


Two Broken Halves

by talesofadragon



Category: Gintama
Genre: Angst, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fluff, might have more relationships but idk, smut in the much later chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-19
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-01-19 20:26:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 42,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12417537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talesofadragon/pseuds/talesofadragon
Summary: Left alone in the world. Blaming herself for the fall of her tribe and the destruction of her planet. Olivia was truly alone no matter how many friends she had. No matter how many people she met. She dragged herself through life, not ever thinking she would fall for someone, especially someone not of her kind. But there was violence and danger around every corner in Edo, and settling down was something she just couldn't do... she thought.*Also on Fanfiction





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, uh this is my first Gintama fic. It's been revamped and moved from fanfiction to here. Please be kind and enjoy  
> ^-^

An amanto, unknown to this world, walked silently down the busy streets of Edo. People were bumping into her left and right, not even acknowledging that they had bumped into her. She didn’t mind. It wasn’t like she was going to get any sort of respect out of humans anyway. She had been beaten one day, robbed the next, called a filthy amanto and other unpleasantries every day. She hadn’t even found a hotel that would accommodate her. Amantos were clearly not wanted on this planet.

Olivia Achi of the Akemi tribe had fled her home during an attack which left her the only Akemi alive. They had been attacked by vicious shapeshifters that hunt down the most powerful of their victims and take ahold of their powers in order to destroy them. They feed off the destruction. Fortunately, it takes hundreds of years for them to finish feeding.

Olivia opened the door to a dusty, run down motel. They should be able to room her for at least a night, right? The bell on the door rang and a little old man popped up from below the counter. He gave a bright smile and adjusted his glasses.

“How may I help you today?”

“I’d like a room for… just the night if you could.”

“Ah, yes! I can do that! Can I see your ID?”

Olivia gulped and with shaky hands, she fumbled through her bag for her passport and gave it to the man. Once the man saw that it was some sort of passport and not an ID, he frowned. Though, he searched through it anyway, and she relaxed a bit with a gleam of hope in her eyes.

But she relaxed too soon.

The man shook his head and threw her passport on the table. “No amanto! You are the reason that Edo is such shit! Please leave before I call the cops!”

Quickly taking her passport and bag, she bowed her head and ran out the door. No luck as usual. She was used to finding a quiet alleyway to stay in for the night. She wasn’t usually disturbed by anyone and she had a blanket in her bag. It was enough.

She started down another street, again bumping into everyone that walked by. The fliers on the electricity poles were about to be ripped off by the wind. Usually, she would just ignore them since most of them didn’t want amanto anyway, but one stood out to her. She walked up to the flier and pressed it against the pole.

“Odd Jobs… We do the jobs that you don’t want to do,” She read to herself. She tore down the flier and looked at the address. It wasn’t too far. She should make it before sundown if she hurried. She put the flier in her bag and started for the Odd Jobs address.  

They might help her, but she wasn’t expecting much. She was an amanto after all. A new amanto to the area. It’s not like she had a good reputation that allowed for at least some people to respect her. Back at home, everyone respected her, but here… here wasn’t home. She wasn’t anyone here. She was just a stupid amanto.

She made it to the address and stared up at the ‘Odd Jobs’ sign. It was above a snack shop. Great. What had she been expecting? She shrugged and started up the stairs. Hopefully they were still open. The lights were on and there was a lot of noise coming from inside. She stood at the door, hesitant to knock. What if they didn’t want to help her because of being an amanto? She gulped and brought her fist to the door. Only one way to find out.

“Shinpachi! Get the door!” She heard a man yell.

There was some shuffling of feet and a young man, around 16 maybe, open the door. The young man, apparently named Shinpachi, stood frozen as he looked her up and down slowly. Olivia started to fidget uncomfortably.

“Uhm, hello? This is Odd Jobs, yes?” She said, making the young man stop checking her out.

“Oh! Yes, yes! Welcome! Come in! Our boss will be happy to help!” He urged her inside and shut the door behind her.

Olivia took off her boots and followed the man into what looked to be a living room. On one of the couches sat a young girl eating rice and to the right was a desk and behind it was a wavy, silver haired man. The silver haired man put his boots on the desk and prompted her to step in front of it.

He looked her up and down, and grinned slightly. “How may we help a beautiful lady such as yourself?”

Olivia’s cheeks turned a slight shade of pink, but she took out a sack of money and put it on his desk. “Mr. Odd Job, I’d… I’d like for you to help me find a place to sleep at least just for a little while.”

“Why don’t you just get a hotel?” He snorted, putting his feet down on the ground and playing around with the sack of money.

“I’m… I’m new to Edo and I didn’t realize how much humans hated amanto here….” She gulped, fidgeting with her bag strap.

“They wouldn’t give you a room because you were an amanto… Yeah, that’ll happen a lot around here, even though it’s technically illegal,” Shinpachi chimed in, sitting on the opposite couch from the young girl.

“So, I was hoping that Odd Jobs could find me a place to stay… just for a little while until I get a job here and I can find my own place… I have more money if that sack isn’t enough,” She pursed her lips and looks down to the ground. “If you don’t want to help me, it’s fine. I’m used to people not helping me by now.”

The man sat back in his chair and looked her up and down again. “Why don’t you just stay here?”

Olivia’s head shot up and she furrowed her brows in confusion. “Excuse me?”

“We don’t have much room but our couches are comfy enough.” He took the sack from the desk and started to throw it up and down in his hand. “This will be enough for at least a week.”

“O-oh… you’re serious… N-no, I couldn’t. I don’t want to be a burden-.”

“It’s no burden miss…?” The man cocked an eyebrow, leaning on his desk on both elbows.

“Olivia Achi of the Akemi tribe….” She whispered, looking back down to the ground. “And I couldn’t ask that of you.”

“Gintoki is my name.” He pointed over to the girl on the couch. “That’s Kagura and the boy is Shinpachi.” He put the bag back on the desk and started to pick at his ear. “Listen Achi-san, if you can’t find a place that will give you a room, making us look for one for you isn’t going to be a big difference. Even if we did find you a place, after we leave it’s likely that they’ll just kick you out. So, stay here. Just pay for however many weeks you stay here until you find a job and your own place.”

“Please just call me Olivia. No need for formalities,” She said with a smile, waving her hand to dismiss it. Formalities like that made her think of home and she wanted to put all that behind her. “And I suppose your right. I’ll try to stay out of your way.”

“No need for that cause we won’t stay outta your way,” Kagura pipped up, slurping down the rest of her… 5th bowl of rice. “You’re in our house now sweetheart. We’re family and families get in your way all the time.”


	2. Chapter 2

A couple of shakes of the head. A few frowns. And one point to the door. Today wasn’t the best day for job searching. Well, the past couple of days weren’t the best for job searching for Olivia. She wasn’t necessarily kicked out every time, but she could definitely tell she wasn’t wanted. She looked exactly like a human, and they were discriminating against her just because she wasn’t from Edo. It was disgusting. She grew more and more frustrated with each passing day.

Olivia closed the door behind her gently, took off her boots and dragged herself to the couch with a sigh. At this rate, she was never going to get a job nor her own place. She would just live here for the rest of her days…. No, she couldn’t. She would eventually kick herself out and live on the streets again. That was better than being a burden. Even though every day they Gintoki-san told her she wasn’t being a burden, she still felt like it.

“No luck today, Olivia?” Gintoki-san asked, flipping through his JUMP magazine, really not paying attention to much else.

She shook her head. “No. No luck. They don’t want amanto especially ones with no experience.” She put her head into her hands and leaned her elbows on her knees. “I don’t want to work at an amanto only place either.”

“The old lady downstairs said that if you don’t find anything by the end of the month, you could work for her,” He replied, putting down his JUMP magazine and sighing. “JUMP just isn’t the same once you’re an adult.”

“That won’t be necessary. I’ll find something… eventually,” Olivia said and looked around at the others. “No business today here?”

“It’s been a shitty month for us,” Gintoki said.

“Yeah, but we don’t get much business here anyway,” Kagura said, playing some card game with Shinpachi.

“You’re the first customer in a few weeks… unfortunately,” Shinpachi frowned. “I really needed to get paid.”

“Hey, hey, hey. You eat here. Sometimes you stay the night, but you always have a home to go back to if need be. That’s all anyone ever needs. No one needs riches and wealth,” Gintoki told him, picking up his magazine again. “Besides, you got your pay and the old lady got her rent for the month.”

“Thankfully. I’m tired of her banging on the door every morning,” Kagura said, pushing her cards away with a huff and turning on the TV. “I need my beauty sleep.”

“You’re beauty sleep is a fifteen-hour sleep.” Shinpachi rolled his eyes. “If it wasn’t for me waking you up to start work, you’d both never get up.”

“Our top story tonight,” The newscaster interrupted whatever Kagura was about to say to Shinpachi regarding her sleeping habits. “We’ve been informed that the planet Akemi has been completely destroyed.”

Everyone’s eyes darted to the TV and whatever noise there was went completely silent. On the screen was a picture of the planet. That luscious green planet was a complete desert with buildings crumbling, animals, however many they were left, roaming the degenerating streets. Olivia frowned and looked away. She couldn’t bear to look anymore. She just wanted to put everything that had happened behind her, but it felt like she was reliving that awful day all over again.

“Yes, the powerful Akemi tribe has been completely wiped out due to an attack by shapeshifters,” The reporter continued. “Shapeshifters are amanto that go around attacking planets and feeding off the destruction that they cause. It takes hundreds of years for them to finish their meal. Hopefully they won’t come to Edo after their done with planet Akemi!”

The newscasters proceeded to laugh and after, they went on to another story like this disaster wasn’t even worth anything. Her eyes darted from one person to the next and they were all staring at her like she was going to explain the situation some more, but of course she wasn’t on her own free will.  Gintoki sighed and picked up his magazine once more.

“So, you’re the last surviving Akemi, huh?” He asked.

Olivia nodded.

“Why’d you come to Edo?”

“…It was a spur of the moment thing. It was either here, or I stay and die.” Olivia shrugged. “Honestly, at this rate, I should have stayed.”

“Don’t say that,” Shinpachi said, furrowing his brows and giving a frown. “You’re a lovely person.”

Olivia smiled and got up from the couch, walking to her boots. “Come. I’ll treat you guys to dinner. What do you want?”

They all looked down the small hallway, blinking in confusion.

“You want to get us dinner?” Shinpachi asked.

“Yes. What’s so wrong with that?” Olivia smiled wider, put on her boots and opened the door. “Come on. You have to be hungry!”

It was like she had cast a spell on them, they grabbed their shoes, and dragged her out the door to the downtown area. It was surprisingly lively for a Tuesday night. Gamblers were drunk on the streets trying to flirt with women. Young groups of people playing music, trying to get their names out there. Some were couples having a date night. It was quite lovely actually.

They dragged her to a diner and asked for a booth which they were taken to straight away. Looking around, it wasn’t an upscale place like she had imagined they’d take her. It wasn’t quite run down either. It was what you would think a typical diner would be like. A waitress, who looked like she didn’t exactly want to be there, came by with some glasses and a pitcher of water and left for a bit longer while they all continued to look at the menu.

“Uh, what’s good on this planet? I’ve never heard of many of these dishes…,” Olivia mumbled, twisting her face at each and every dish on the menu.

“Ah, still not used to earth food, huh?” Shinpachi laughed, putting down his menu. “I’d recommend the katsudon.”

“No, no, no,” Kagura shook her head, putting her menu down. “The tenzaru soba! You should get that!”

“No one can eat that all by themselves except for you, Kagura!” Gintoki said, putting down his menu as well. “You should get the gyudon, Olivia.”

“Why would she want that? You’re the only one who I’ve seen eat it!”

She watched with wide eyes as they all started to argue about their favorite dishes from the restaurant. Was this what families did on this planet? Argue about what the most delicious dish was at a restaurant? Olivia cracked a smile and giggled, making the arguing die down.

“What’s so funny?” Kagura asked.

“Oh! Just you guys! Besides-,” Olivia pointed to a dish on the menu. “I think I’m going to get the salmon ochazuke! Sounds delicious!”

Gintoki smacked her gently and playfully on the back. “Welcome to Edo where people argue a lot but love each other anyway!”

Olivia nodded. “I figured that much by watching you guys just now!” She hummed and closed her eyes. “You must love each other very much.”


	3. Chapter 3

Working at the Snack Shack was looking pretty good right about now. No one even wanted to interview her. Olivia had found one place that didn’t mind her being an amanto, but once they found out that she had no experience, it was back to square one for her. This was torture, but living with Gintoki and the others made everything bearable. Still, she at least wanted her own job. Gintoki had said that she could have a job at Odd Jobs, but she didn’t want to rely on them anymore than she needed.

Upon walking past the Shinsengumi place, there was a floor sign in front of the open doors that read ‘NEW MEMBERS NEEDED! ABLE BODIED PERSONS NEEDED! HIRING NOW! GO INSIDE AND CHECK IT OUT!’. What an odd sign for the Shinsengumi to put out for hiring purposes. She examined the sign a bit more and walked inside. Pursing her lips, she looked around and saw a line of men to the side and walked straight to the end of it with all the men standing in front of her staring at her as she took her place.

A few minutes later, after a few more men had gotten in line behind her, the doors to the room that they were in front of opened up and a dark skinned, dark haired, tall man with a bright smile greeted them all. Behind him was a blonde, lighter skinned man who had piercing redish-brown eyes and another who was also a lighter skinned man with dark hair, smoking a cigarette.

“ _Oh,”_ Olivia breathed. _‘He’s gorgeous.’_

“Hello and welcome! I am Kondou Isao, the commander of the Shinsengumi!” The dark skinned man yelled to the line. “Obviously, this isn’t like regular hiring for a job! Today, we will be assessing your skills with the sword and strategy fighting! We only have a few positions open unfortunately, and only one position in the 1st division! At the end of the day, we will call the new members up one by one and give you your uniform, your position, and badge! Now, come on in and space yourselves out in an organized fashion!”

Olivia felt a sudden push on her back as she was forced forward towards the doors. One by one, the three men walked back into the room, directly in front of the crowd. As they all piled in, the line was handed a wooden practice sword by one current member of the Shinsengumi, and another was taking names. The member who gave Olivia hers tilted his head to the side and stared at her in confusion but eventually shrugged and let go of the sword. The other who took her name didn’t even flinch. Eventually, they had all filed in and the two handing out swords closed the doors to the room. Olivia was standing way in the back beside two very muscular men. They grumbled, glaring at her before turning their attention back to the front three men.

“Okay, okay,” The pale, blond said. “I’m Okita Sougo, the 1st division captain and the other guy on the other side of Kondo is the terrible demon of the Shinsengumi.”

The other dark haired men pulled his cigarette out of his mouth and puffed out some smoke. “I’m not a terrible demon. I am Hijikata Toushirou, the Vice-Chief of the Shinsengumi.”

“The demon Vice-Chief-.”

“Enough you two!” Kondo exclaimed and they both huffed, looking away from Kondo. Kondo cleared his throat and put on another smile. “So! First we have to warm up! Get into position!”

Looking around, Olivia noticed everyone getting into a wide, front leg, back leg position with their wooden swords out in front of them and she joined, copying their stance. Kondo gave a wave and everyone started slashing down with their swords in one fluid motion. And Olivia copied, making the same grunting sound that the men were making.

Sougo started making rounds, weaving through the crowd and Olivia suddenly started to get nervous. She gulped and made sure to stare at a spot on the back of the man in front of her. But her nerves started up again when Sougo stopped in front of her and grabbed on to her wooden sword.

“And what do we have here?” He said getting low to meet her gaze. “A woman?”

“A woman?!” Kondo yelped and pushed through the crowd with Toushirou calmly following behind him. Kondo stopped, looming over Olivia with a hint of lust in his eyes. “Oh! You’re a gorgeous one!”

“Unfortunately, we don’t hire women,” Sougo said. “No matter how beautiful they are.”

“It didn’t say that on your sign out front,” Olivia snarled, jerking a thumb towards the doorway. “If you don’t hire women, it should say that on your signs.”

“It didn’t… say… Dammit Yamazaki!” Sougo fumed.

“Oi,” Toushirou pushed Kondo aside and stepped in front of the fuming 1st division Captain. “What’s your name?”

“Olivia Achi of the Akemi tribe,” She responded with a slight head bow.

“The Akemi tribe, huh?” Toushirou puffed on his cigarette. “They were recently attacked.”

“Y-yes… I’m the only one left,” She said, fidgeting slightly at the thought.

“Hmm, the Akemi tribe were very powerful amanto, huh?” Kondo hummed, rubbing his chin. “Aren’t you supposed to have wings?”

“I-I don’t usually have my wings out unless I’m flying or need to use magic….”

“She’s still a women and we don’t hire women,” Sougo had stopped fuming and had grabbed her sword once more.

Olivia’s eyes narrowed and she stood straight almost at attention. “You don’t hire women because they’re weak? Not intelligent enough? Just why don’t you?”

They all blinked and looked at each other. Kondo shrugged. The Vice-Chief shrugged back and continued to puff on his cigarette. Sougo stared her down and got close, chests almost touching.

“We’ve never hired women. That’s just how the Shinsengumi has worked,” He told her.

“Tch. I can beat every man's ass in this room and every man currently in the Shinsengumi.”

Sougo arched an eyebrow. “Oh? Is that a promise?”

“It is,” She growled.

“Okay. Everyone outside. We’re going to have a little tournament,” Sougo announced, letting go of her sword. “Everyone against this amanto woman. Whoever defeats her will get the position in the 1st division.”

“Wait, hold on a sec-.” But Kondo was cut off by the crowd pushing their way out the doors to the grounds with Sougo and Olivia following behind.

Toushirou came out of the doorway behind them, stopped and stared at Olivia as she walked towards the crowd of men who were eager to defeat her. “Are we sure this is a good idea?”

“You know Sougo, Toshi,” Kondo said, being the last one out the door. “Once he gets an idea in his head, there’s no stopping that idea.”

The men and Sougo stood one one side of the yard while Olivia, all by herself, stood one the other side, staring at all the men who were now glaring at her. Toushirou and Kondo looked on from the side lines. Toushirou being very interested in Olivia.

One by one, the men were thrown into the field and one by one, they were almost immediately thrown out by Olivia with only her wooden sword to use. After every win, Olivia grew more and more relaxed and that in turn made her swings more and more powerful, forceful and fluid. Finally, the last of the men in the crows had fallen without Olivia even breaking a sweat. Sougo wasn’t frustrated like she thought he would be though, he was fascinated and started to call out the members of the Shinsengumi.

Obviously, these men were much better trained than the others were, but they weren’t much tougher. It started easy, but then Sougo started calling in higher members of the Shinsengumi, and the battles got more and more difficult. Olivia started to sweat, but she never faltered. Eventually, Sougo called his own name and came at Olivia at blazing speed.

Now she really starting to sweat.

Sougo was hitting hard and hitting fast. All she was doing was defending with a few dodges thrown in there. She needed to analyze the situation; find his weak spot or an opening so that she could end this, but it seemed that he didn’t have a weak spot. She would just have to keep defending until she found an opening.

And finally there is was. His left hind leg hand slipped out of place just slightly, but that’s all she needed. Instead of blocking, she took the blow from his sword, in turn, she slipped hers to the side of his hind leg and swiped his leg out from under him. Sougo, the Captain of the 1st Division, fell on his side and Olivia pushed the end of her sword on to his throat.

“Alright, alright!” Kondo yelled, clapping his hands to get everyone’s attention. “Everyone, take five, get a drink, use the bathroom, do whatever you need to while Sougo, Toshi, and I figure out who’s going to be a new member of the Shinsengumi.”

The men who were here to be hired groaned as they went to sit down on the porch, get some water, or use the bathroom. Olivia wiped her face with her sleeve and put her sword against the building. As she did, everyone glared at her. She could feel the tension and ferocity in the air, but she didn’t let it get to her. If these men suddenly attacked her, she could hold her own. Besides, she had magic. They didn’t.

Finally, Sougo, Toushirou and Kondo came back out of the building and had everyone gather themselves in front of them. Olivia, again, was in the way back. She didn’t feel confident about this. Something told her that, even after all that fighting, she wouldn’t get hired. She was already readying herself for disappointment.

“The first new member of the Shinsengumi is….” Kondo looked at the list in his hand. “Eito Furo for a position in the 4th division!”

The crowd clapped as this Eito Furo went up to the porch and was handed his uniform and badge. Toushirou stepped aside, and Eito stood to the side, facing the crowd with a smile.

“The next new member of the Shinsengumi is… Hibiki Fumi for a position in the 6th division!”

Again, everyone clapped as Hibiki went up, was handed his uniform and badge, and took a step to the side with Eito on his left.

“Next new member will be… Koji Mitsue for a position in the 3rd division!”

Once more, the crowd clapped and Koji was handed his uniform, badge and stepped aside with the other new members.

“And now, for the 1st division position… Naoki Ren!”

Olivia’s eyes narrowed. All that work for nothing. She clapped with everyone else as Naoki ran up to the porch and was handed his 1st division badge and uniform.

“Tch.” Olivia sneered and started for the doors. Not wanting to stay around for anything else.

“Hold on a second.”

Olivia stopped and turned as Kondo scanned the sheet with a small grin on his face.

“Olivia Achi,” Kondo turned to look at her who arched an eyebrow in confusion. “The 1st division spot that we had prepared was for a man. We weren’t prepared for a woman to come and try out. So, we have made a position in the 1st division for a woman and that is you.”

“Huh? Really?” She blinked, frozen in place.

Kondo nodded. “Of course! You defeated Sougo! We could never allow such a wonderful swordsman… er, swordswoman to get away from us. So, come up here!”

Olivia slowly made her way up to the porch. A few people clapped, but most of the men who were there grumbled and mumbled how it wasn’t fair to the rest of them. She ignored them. Toushirou handed her a 1st division badge and scratched the back of his head.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have a uniform that’s designed for a, uh, woman’s body so, we’ll have to get our tailor here tomorrow to make one for you,” He said, turning his head away from her to puff out his cigarette smoke.

“And, uh, you’ll have to use the men’s shower and bathroom until we can finish building your own bathroom in your room,” Kondo said, coughing and… was his cheeks turning red.

“Congrats Achi-san-,”

“Please, call me Olivia. There’s no need for formalities….” She told Sougo and the rest of the members that were there on the porch.

“Congrats… Olivia,” Sougo corrected himself and put his hand out to her for a handshake. “You’ll be under my command… I’ll be honored to teach you the Bushido code and whatever else you need to know.”

She took his hand gently and shook it with a smile. “I’ll be honored to learn from you, Captain.”

“Oi,” Toushirou interrupted their little bonding moment, if you could even call it that. “Where’s do you live? I’ll come with you to get whatever you need.”

“Oh, well, I just have a bag back at Odd Jobs-.”

Toushirou frowned and put his cigarette out with his foot. “Odd Jobs… great.”

Olivia tilted her head to the side. “Hm? What’s wrong with Odd Jobs?”

“Nothing.” Toushirou passed by her as he started for the doors. “Come on, I’ll get your things with you. To the rest of the new members, I suggest that you get whatever you need from home as well. You’ll be spending tonight and the rest of your days until you retire here at the Shinsengumi.”

They waited until the crowd had dispersed before going to Odd Jobs. Olivia had told Toushirou that it was only a bag and that he didn’t have to come, but he insisted, saying that he need to patrol the town a bit anyway. They walked in silence; Toushirou slightly in front of Olivia.

She couldn’t help but stare at him. On her home planet, she had tons of suitors, but she never wanted any of them. She never wanted a romantic or even just a sexual relationship with any of the Akemi men or women for that matter. Why was she attracted to this human? Before she knew it, Toushirou was knocking on the door of Odd Jobs and Gintoki had opened the door.

“Oh, the Vice-Chief of the Shinsengumi. What are you…?” Gintoki noticed Olivia and frowned. “Getting into trouble, hm?”

“No, no. She just came by to get her things,” The Vice-Chief said, puffing his smoke away from them. “She’s a part of the Shinsengumi now.” He nudged Olivia. “Go get your bag.”

She nodded and bounded quickly into the living room, grabbing her bag and bounding back out the door. She scrambled through her bag and took out another sack of money, handing it to Gintoki.

“This is for keeping me here and welcoming me into your family,” She said.

Gintoki stared for a bit then relaxed and shook his head. “No. Family members don’t need money from other members for giving them a place to stay.”

“But-.”

Gintoki shook his head again. “You’ll always be a member of the Odd Jobs family, even if you have found a new family in the Shinsengumi.”


	4. Chapter 4

“Uhm, Captain Okita?” Olivia mumbled, staring at the Captain who was sitting with his back against the porch with an eye mask on. “Captain?”

Light snores were all she got.

“Captain?” She lightly kicked at his foot making him snort and turn in his head, but not waking up. “… Captain, you need to wake up….”

Just then, Hijikata turned the corner with a snarl on his face and ran up to them, getting in Sougo’s face and screaming, “Sougo! Get up before I slice up your face!”

Sougo seemed unfazed by the yelling in his face. He stretched his arms up and eventually put his eye mask on top his head. “Toshi, can’t you go scream at cars coming at you at full speed on the highway instead?”

“Captain Okita, I’m sorry to bother you while you were, uh, taking a nap,” Olivia quickly chimed in before that conversation could get any more heated. “But, it’s time for us to go on patrol around the city.”

“Oh, it is?” Sougo sighed. “Mmm, can you go by yourself?”

“You know that’s against the rules, Sougo!” The Vice-Chief fumed. “New members must go with an upper rank on their first few patrols! She’s under your command! Go with her!”

“But, that’s cutting into my sleep,” Sougo replied, putting his eye mask back over his eyes. “Come back in like, an hour.”

The Vice-Chief mumbled something under his breath and walked past the two, hands shoved angrily into his pockets. “Come on. I’ll go with you if your lazy Captain won’t join you.”

“Oh, uh… okay.” Olivia bowed to Sougo, even though he couldn’t see, and ran to catch up with Hijikata as he walked out of the Shinsengumi headquarters.

They walked in complete silence for a while. Again, Hijikata took a slight lead as they walked. Hands in pockets. Cigarette in mouth. Head high. Back straight. Olivia analyzed his movement and how he carried himself, and did the same, but a hand at her side and a hand on the handle of her sword. She wasn’t quite as quick at unsheathing her blade like everyone else, so just in case, shouldn’t couldn’t afford to keep her hands in her pockets.

“So, uh,” The Vice-Chief broke the silence. “How is your uniform? It’s not tight, is it?”

“Mmm,” Olivia hummed, pulling gently at the fabric. “No. I don’t think so. Does it look tight to you, Hijikata-sensei?”

The Vice-Chief peered behind him to check, but his face quickly turned red and he looked forward again. “N-No! It looks fine! I was just making sure that you felt comfortable in it! A member of the Shinsengumi has to have well-fitting, comfortable uniforms!”

Olivia jumped at the booming of his voice, but then covered her mouth with a hand to not let her giggles escape her mouth. Some giggles must have slipped since Hijikata started to distance himself from her. She clamped her lips shut and trudged on up to his side. He didn’t flinch when she accidently brushed his arm with hers. He made sure to keep his eye straight ahead, and his face was about his normal skin color again.

“You humans get flustered so easily,” Olivia said, spurting out the giggles she was holding in. “It’s cute.”

His face turned red again and he looked slightly away from her. “And amanto don’t get flustered?”

The question was unexpected coming from someone who was avoiding all eye contact with her. “Well,” Olivia tapped her chin with a finger. “We do get flustered, but just not as easily as humans do. I mean, you blushed just from looking at me!”

“I didn’t blush nor was it just from looking at you,” He huffed and put his cigarette out in one of those public ash trashes. “It’s just hot out today.”

“…It’s just… hot…?” Olivia snickered some more, but left it alone. She knew he was lying. That bluff wasn’t good at all.

“So, uh, how do you like Edo so far?” Hijikata asked, not letting the silence between them set in again.

“Hm, well… amanto are hated more than I expected….” Olivia pursed her lips and looked down. “I couldn’t even find a hotel that would let me stay a night no matter how much money I gave… Odd Jobs were the only ones that let me stay. I am grateful for them.”

“Tch.” The Vice-Chief mumbled something that she couldn’t hear and took out another cigarette, lighting it with his custom lighter.

Olivia stared at the lighter in wonder. “What’s that?”

Hijikata arched an eyebrow, then looked at his lighter. “It’s just a regular lighter.”

“But why is it shaped like that?”

“It’s just shaped like a bottle of mayonnaise.”

Olivia scrunched her nose up and Toushirou stood there waiting for her to make fun of him like everyone always did. However, she proceeded to take the lighter from him and examine the design some more.

“What’s mayonnaise?” She asked.

“… You didn’t have mayonnaise back on your planet?” He was a little surprised, but it wasn’t that strange to have an amanto not know what human food was. He took the lighter from her and put it in pants pocket. “It’s about time for lunch anyway, so I’ll take you to a place with the best mayonnaise dish there is.”

Toushirou started walking again, with Olivia right behind.

“So, is mayonnaise a meat, or a vegetable?” Olivia asked.

“No… mayonnaise is a condiment.”

“A… a condom?”

Toushirou seemed to choke on his cigarette’s smoke. “N-no! A condiment! It’s like ketchup or mustard.”

Olivia clapped her hands together with a smile that had replaced her confused expression. “Oh! I know those things! Yes!” Then, her smile faded and began to rub her chin with a finger. “How does one make a condiment the star of the dish?”

“Well, um….” Hijikata started scratching the back of his head. His face turning a slight shade of pink again.

“Oh!” Olivia giggled, pointing to his face. “You’re turning red again! Is it still ‘too hot’ for you, Hijikata-sensei?”

He mumbled, putting his hand straight back into his pocket with his cheeks getting redder. “You don’t have to call me sensei. Hijikata-san will do just fine… and I requested that they make the dish special for me.”

Now she was the one to blush slightly. “Hijikata-san….” It felt weird to her being so casual to a superior, but if he said it was okay, then it was okay… wasn’t it?

There was a sudden disturbance in Olivia’s energy field that made her stop and whip her head to the right. The disturbance… she had felt it before. It was a pure evil presence. Had they found out where she had gone? Had they followed her to Edo? But there was nothing that she could see. Only humans and other amanto roaming the streets, being good citizens. She must be imagining the feeling.

“Something wrong?” Hijikata’s voice had broken her daze and brought her back to look at him.

“No. Just nerves I suppose.”

“Nervous? There’s nothing to be nervous about. You’ll always be served while you’re a part of the Shinsengumi.  Even after, you’ll be fine,” Toushirou said, stopping in front of a restaurant front and moving the curtain aside. “You first. Pick a table.”

Olivia obeyed and walked in first, picking a nice table in the corner next to the window. Hijikata picked up an ash tray from the front counter and sat down with it in front of him. They both took their swords off their belts and put them next to themselves right by the window. Olivia proceeded to look around the shop. It was very small, and not very packed, but it was cleaned and kept properly, so it must be busy at different times.

“Ah! Hijikata-san! How nice to see you! It’s been a couple of days!” A man with an apron came up to the table. “Oh! And you have a friend with you! Dare I say… a girlfriend?”

Hijikata choked, twisting his face and turning a darker red than before. Olivia clamped a hand over her mouth and laughed silently.

“N-no! No. Olivia is a new recruit! It’s nothing like that!” He exclaimed, his face only becoming a darker shade of red.

“Oh, alright, sure,” The man gave him a wink. “So, what can I get for you?”

“Two Hijikata Specials,” He replied, putting out his cigarette and concentrating on staring at the ash tray.

“Alright! I’ll be back shortly with those!” The man bowed and left the two in silence.

Olivia eyed the Vice-chief’s every movement. His tapping on the table. The way his eyes darted back and forth between the table and the ceiling. His chest rising and falling with every breath he took. Eventually, he took out another cigarette and lit it with his mayonnaise lighter. Once lit, he put his lighter back in his pocket and noticed Olivia staring at him.

“What?” He asked, puffing on the cigarette.

“Oh! Nothing! Sorry if I… freaked you out with my, uh… staring.” She grinned and chuckled awkwardly.

He shook his head and then tapped the tip of his cigarette in the ash tray. “So, where did you learn to wield a sword?”

Olivia’s awkward grin turned into a soft smile, tilting her head down and closing her eyes as she remembered. “Well, most of the Akemi tribe know how to wield a weapon of some sorts. We can’t always rely on our magic. I grew fond of anything with a blade. Daggers, short swords, long swords, scythes, anything. I also dabbled in spears, but I never… finished my training.”

“Mastering all those weapons must have taken a lot of dedication.”

“Well,” Olivia’s smile now turned into a slight frown. Her eyes opened but they didn’t look anywhere else besides the table. “I lived kind of a sheltered life. My mother died because of tourists visiting our planet. My father didn’t want to ban tourists, so he never let me out of the house without certain conditions being met.”

Toushirou’s face softened at her words. “Did you have friends?”

Olivia pursed her lips and slightly shook her head. “Not really. When I was very little I did, but no one wanted to try to socialize with me once my father shut me in… but that was okay… I had a couple of pets that were my friends and I loved my father. We would hang out a lot. He taught me basically everything I know about fighting.”

“Two Hijikata Specials!” The man had come by and slipped the dishes in front of them. From his sleeve, he took out a white bottle and put it on the table. “And here’s more mayo in case you need it.”

“Thanks,” Hijikata nodded and the man buzzed off somewhere else.

The dish was weird looking. It looked like rice with ice cream and whip cream on top. Olivia sniffed the top part and made a face. “Smells… odd.” She took a spoon, scooped up some of the mayo and rice, and put it straight into her mouth. For a while, all that could be heard was gurgles, thoughtful noises and sucking of her teeth with her tongue.

“How do you like it?” Hijikata asked, downing half of the dish in a matter of minutes then squeezing some more mayo on to it.

“The texture is… funny and it’s a bit on the vinegar-y side but all in all… it’s good!”

The Vice-Chief stopped squirting the mayo on to his rice and stared at Olivia; mouth gaping open. “You… you like it?”

“Certainly! Why?”

“…Everyone that knows me usually makes fun of me for liking mayo so much.” He began squirting the mayo on to his meal again. “But to find someone who likes it- even a little – is a nice change.”

Olivia stared as he ate the rest of his bowl. Eventually, she gave the rest of hers to him. Not because she didn’t like it but because all the mayo was making her full quicker than she had expected. Then, the bill came. Olivia went through her pocket for her wallet, but Hijikata shook his head and put his money down on the table.

“If you weren’t good company, or if you were Okita, I would have made you pay for your own. However, you were… _are_ more than good company. It’s on me today.” He explained, getting up out of the booth.

Olivia did the same, bowing to him when she stood. “Thank you, Hijikata-san. You are good company as well.”


	5. Chapter 5

“Oi.”

Olivia felt a throbbing in her side, but yawned and rolled over. Although, that wonderful dream of hers had vanished since she had been interrupted by that throbbing. Maybe if she fell back asleep quickly, it would continue. That’s not usually how dreams worked, but she could wish, right?

“Olivia-san.”

The throb was harder this time making her frown. She rolled over to the side that the throbbing had come from and cracked open an eye. There was a shadowy figure staring down at her. She cracked open the other eye and blinked a couple of times to get used to the lighting in the room. “Captain Okita?” Her gaze shifted to the clock set up on the wall. “It’s still too early for my patrol.”

“We got a call regarding some disturbance,” He said walking away from her. “I figured that since you’re the first on patrol out of the new recruits, I would take you for this call and then we can start patrol.” He arrived at the door and started to close it. “I’ll give you fifteen minutes to get ready. Meet me at the car. We’ll get something to eat on the way.” And then the door shut tight and she could hear his footsteps walking away.  

“Perfect.” She groaned and jumped up from the floor. She threw off her pajamas and took a quick shower, only washing her body and not her hair. That would take too long to dry and she didn’t have that kind of time. Bra, panties, shirt, pants, jacket, sword and finally boots and she was ready to go.

Sougo checked the time on the dash once Olivia had gotten into the passenger’s seat. “With three minutes to spare. Eh, could have been quicker.” With the door closed, they headed down the streets of Edo.

“So, what’s this disturbance call?” Olivia asked.

“Something about a giant dog not behaving or something.” Okita shook his head and sighed. “I shouldn’t have to be doing these kind of calls, but I was the only one awake.”

_‘It’s barely sunrise,’_ Olivia thought and then mumbled. “I have… a lot of questions, but honestly, I’m not awake enough to care.”

“Good. I don’t care enough to answer.”

Olivia smirked as they parked in front of a to-go breakfast shop. “Glad we’re on the same page.”

“Come on. I’ll pay so we can hurry up to the call.”

Sougo and Oliva got out of the car and hurried into the shop. The woman behind the counter gave a weak smile and took their orders. For Sougo, a regular tamagoyaki with black tea. For Olivia, a tamagoyaki with green peppers and mushrooms, and a black coffee. It took the woman quite a while to make everything and Sougo eventually commented that they had a call to get to.

“Sorry,” The woman said, bagging up the food and hanging them their drinks. “Sorry.”

“Thanks.” Sougo, still with that frown, grabbed the bag and they both walked out and started back towards the call.

They ate in silence on the way. Sougo finished his tamagoyaki quickly, licking off whatever had seeped out on to his fingers; only grabbing a napkin when Olivia offered one. Olivia took her time eating and sipping at her steaming hot coffee. Eventually, they got to the call address and they both got out of the car, but Olivia was the only one to frown and her eye twitched.

“Sadaharu! Please! Calm down!” Kagura yelled as Sadaharu continued to bark and run around the street, knocking over everything in sight and ruining multiple buildings in the process.

Captain Okita took out a megaphone, turned it on. “This is the Shinsengumi. Please control your dog or we will be forced to take action.

Kagura looked and glared at Sougo. “What do you think I’m trying to do?!”

“Please do not yell. We only want to get this situation under control,” Sougo said into the megaphone again, but didn’t actually do a thing besides sip on his tea.

Olivia, holding her coffee sighed and rubbed her temple with her free hand. “You are the reason I had to wake up before sunrise? Because you can’t control Sadaharu?”

Kagura scrunched her nose at Olivia and stuck out her tongue. “Olivia! I thought you were on my side! We’re family!”

“There are no sides in this situation,” She sighed, taking a sip of her coffee. “Don’t bother, Captain Okita. I’ve got this.” Clearing her throat, she whistled and stomped her foot on the ground. “Sadaharu!”

Sadaharu slid into a stop, barked and turned around to face Olivia.

“Come.”

Once again, Sadaharu barked and came speeding towards Olivia and Sougo, but stopped right before crashing into the two of them. His hot, smelly breath on both of them making Okita’s face twist.

“Sit.”

Sadaharu sat and barked again.

“Down.”

And for the final time, Sadaharu obeyed and laid down on the ground at Olivia’s feet as she took another sip of her coffee.

“Kagura, keep him on a leash please. I don’t need to be woken up this early again because of you and Sadaharu.”

“Or you could train him to obey you like he did with Olivia-san,” Sougo said.

Kagura huffed and folded her arms across her chest. “He only obeys people who have an old lady aura to them!”

Olivia’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped. “An… old lady aura?”

Kagura’s mouth grew into an evil smile and she started to chuckle like a villain. She pointed at the Akemi and in her low voice said, “Oh ho, don’t tell me that you actually think people believe that you’re actually the age you look like.”

Olivia stayed silent.

“Humans know that years are different on every planet.” Kagura’s eyebrows raised up and down. “You have an old lady aura because you _are_ an old lady, aren’t you?”

Olivia made a horribly disgusted face. The coffee that she was holding was easily crushed making hot coffee spill on to her hand, but she didn’t even flinch. The cup itself seemed to be set ablaze by her magic and eventually turned into ash. She snorted and went straight back into the car.

“Surely this situation is all set and done with, Captain Okita?” She closed the door to the car and sat with her arms crossed in a slight pout.

Sougo nodded in agreement, but couldn’t help his wide grin as he got back into the car and started down the streets on patrol.

 

* * *

 

“Sogo! Olivia-san! You’re just in time for lunch!” Kondo greeted them in the garage. “Toshi and Yamazaki made miso soup and yakisoba chicken for everyone!”

“That’s great,” Olivia mumbled, trudging off to the dining area.

“Huh? What’s the matter with Olivia-san?” Kondo made a sour face and turned to Sogo. “What happened on your patrol? What did you do Sogo?”

“ _I_ didn’t do anything on our patrol,” Sougo replied. His eyes gleaming with a cruel plan to torment her during lunch. “But I’m sure we’ll all find out what’s wrong during lunch.”

Kondo watched as Sougo walked past him and shrugged. They both walked into the dining area and sat down next to each other with Hijikata next to Kondo on the other side. On Sougo’s side of the room was Olivia and the rest of the 1st division members and next to them was the 2nd division and so on and so forth. Yamazaki came out with a couple of dishes in hand and started to pass those out, eventually going back for some more of the dishes.

“Olivia-san,” Sougo turned to her with a straight face. “I was wondering….”

“…Yes, Captain Okita?”

“How old are you?”

Olivia’s eyes narrowed and her dark blue hues turned into an icy blue, making everyone that could see her eyes jump back slightly in shock from the event; except Sougo. His mouth curved up slightly, and his eyes seemed to grow wild.

“S-Sogo! It’s not polite to ask a lady their age!” Kondo exclaimed, then moved forward towards Olivia, waving a dismissive hand at Sougo. “Don’t pay attention to him, Olivia-san! We don’t need to know your age!”

“No, no. I think we do,” Sougo said. “I still have some paperwork left to fill out and to finish, I need her age.”

“25,” Olivia replied, not breaking the eye contact between them. The electrifying tension only filled the air more and it was almost suffocating.

“But, because you’re from a different planet, isn’t that just the age you would be if you lived on earth for your whole life?”

“Sogo, please,” Kondo begged, with pleading eyes looking from Okita to Olivia then back to Okita. “Let’s just eat in peace… for once.”

“It doesn’t matter what her home planet age is,” Hijikata pipped up, squeezing mayo on to his yakisoba chicken.

Olivia’s eyes turned back into their original shade of blue and she broke contact with Okita to stare at Hijikata with a bit of surprise. “Hijikata-san….”

He didn’t move his body, but his eyes shifted to look back at Olivia. “Earth is her home planet now. Just use the age that she gave you.”

Sougo’s smirk returned to normal, and he started to eat. “Is that okay with you, Kondo-san?”

“Of course! Of Course!” Kondo replied obviously happy that the conversation was over. “By the way, this meal is good! Great work Toshi and Yamazaki!”

“Yeah, good work not putting mayo on all of our dishes, Hijikata-san.”

“I’ll put mayo right up your-.”

“Our family is so wonderful,” Kondo sighed, slurping the last of his meal.

Olivia took her time eating as everyone else slurped and hurried to finish. There was little talk between the members besides giving Hijikata and Yamazaki compliments on the meal and Sougo making comments here and there to try and provoke Hijikata into attacking him. Eventually, people started getting up and heading off to wherever they needed to be and the new recruits were left to clean up. However, the Vice-Chief stayed behind to smoke his after meal cigarette.

Olivia waited until the other recruits left for the kitchen before doing her share… Well, she hadn’t finished eating until they had left anyway. She picked up the rest of the dishes and started for the kitchen, but stopped next to Hijikata.

“Hijikata-san….” She bit her lip and then bowed low. “Thank you for that.”

“Eh?” Hijikata tilted his head to look up at her.

“For getting Captain Okita off my back about my age.”

Hijikata took the cigarette out of his mouth and blew the smoke in a different direction. “I just said what I was thinking; what I thought needed to be said.”

Olivia stood back up straight and nodded. “Thank you anyway….” She opened the door, but stopped and said, “I’m 250 years old on my home planet if you really needed to know for my paperwork.”

Hijikata puffed on his cigarette and blew the smoke out once more. “I told you. This is your home planet now. To me- to all of us- you are 25.”


	6. Chapter 6

The day was still young. Olivia took her patrol early in the morning with Yamazaki. He told her that he usually doesn’t go on patrol since he is a spy for the Shinsengumi, but every now and then the Commander wanted him to go on patrol explaining that spies had keen awareness of their surroundings. Yamazaki didn’t believe it to be true, but he never questioned Kondo… with certain things anyway.

After her patrol, she had training with Captain Okita. He was supposedly off today, but he was bored and wanted some action from the new recruits. He worked them harder than expected. Olivia had thought that he would slack off like he did out on patrols and during calls, but training was different.  By the end, she had worked up a nice sweat and went to take a shower and put on a clean uniform.

“Olivia-san!” Kondo greeted her as she stepped out of her room.

“Commander.” She stood at attention and saluted.

“You and me are going on a special assignment!” He exclaimed, taking a hold of her sleeve and pulling her along out of the lot.

“O-oh? What is this special assignment?” She asked, following along with the Commander.

“Just a little… spying and assessment.”

“…Isn’t that Yamazaki’s specialty?” Why did he need her for something like this?

“Technically, yes, but I need a woman for this.” Kondo looked back and grinned, then stopped at an old, rundown dojo. He motioned for her to follow which she did hesitantly. They nonchalantly sneaked behind the back of the dojo and he lead her into the little woodsy area there. In the middle of the area was a big rock that Kondo easily pushed away revealing a tunnel.

“Ladies first.”

She sighed, but nonetheless, crawled in to the tunnel, following it until she popped out beneath… a building? A wooden floor to be precise. She could see in between the gaps of the floor boards and there was obviously someone walking around up above. She crawled out and soon after, so did Kondo. He laid down flat on the ground and Olivia mimicked him, watching as the person went from room to room; probably cleaning.

She scooted closer to Kondo and whispered in his ear. “So, uh where are we and who are we spying on?”

Kondo waited for the footsteps of the target to disappear into another room before quietly responding. “The target’s name is Otae Shimura.”

“… Shimura?” That was Shinpachi’s name. Was… was this his sister? Olivia’s eyes widened at the thought of Shinpachi and his sister being traitors of the city or worse.

“So,” Kondo started quietly as Otae walked into another room and closed the door. “What do you think of the Shinsengumi so far? Liking the job?”

Olivia nodded. “Quite so.”

“Sogo’s not being mean to you or anything right?”

She shook her head. “No.”

He turned his head slightly with a grin. “What about Toshi?”

Her brows furrowed. “He’s not mean to me.”

“No, no. I mean, how do you feel about him?”

“I’m not sure what you’re getting at sir,” She said. “Hijikata-san is an interesting man.”

“Strong.” Kondo said.

She nodded.

“Smart too.”

She nodded.

“He’s cute too, isn’t he?”

“Commander!” Olivia hissed quietly as to not let Otae become aware of their presence. “Th-that’s uncalled for!”

“Your face says otherwise,” Kondo chuckled lightly.

Olivia huffed but didn’t argue. Hijikata was cute. No. He was gorgeous. He was so handsome. He made her heart flutter. He made her feel butterflies in her stomach. He made her feel as though she was as light as the air around her. It had only been a few weeks since becoming a member of the Shinsengumi and she wanted to be near Hijikata all day every day. Whenever he took her out on patrols she felt special even though it was his job to train the new recruits when no one else was available. She felt as though he was going out of his way to talk to her about non-Shinsengumi things. She felt special whenever he was around in general.

“Toshi is popular with the ladies,” Kondo said, breaking the silence. “But, he’s never had a serious relationship. He thinks that, because this job is dangerous and he can get hurt or worse even killed, that he doesn’t deserve to ever settle down-.”

“Doesn’t matter what my feelings are for him,” She said, cutting him off. “He’s my superior.”

“So?”

“It wouldn’t be right. It would reflect horribly on him if he dated someone under him, especially a new recruit.”

Kondo stayed silent for the rest of the assignment. Eventually, Shinpachi came home from odd jobs and that was their cue to leave. Two sets of ears were better than one, and it was getting pretty late. People were probably wondering where their leader was. They went through the tunnel and Kondo moved the rock back over the hole.

_‘Really… how could he be a Commander and not understand how bad it would be if Hijikata-san and I were to date?_ ’ She thought as they made their way back to the Shinsengumi headquarters. _‘I mean… it would have been a nice dream, but that’s the only thing it will ever be; a dream.’_

“There you are Kondo.”

Great. It was Hijikata with Captain Okita. Just the men that she wanted to see after that discussion with Kondo.

“Where have you guys been? You missed dinner,” Sogo said. “However, it wasn’t that good so be grateful that you missed it.”

“Oh! I just took Olivia-san on a special assignment!” Kondo wrapped his arm around her shoulder and leaned in. “So, how do you feel about Otae?”

“Well, there was no evidence of her being a traitor or part of the anti-foreigner faction….”  Olivia’s head popped up to look at the Vice-Chief and the Captain sighing heavily. “…What is it?”

“You brought her along to stalk Otae?” Hijikata asked.

“And you didn’t even tell her that Otae is someone your chasing to get her love,” Okita shook his head with disappointment.

“The Shimura family… aren’t being spied on for being traitors?” Olivia blinked, looking from one man to another.

Hijikata shook his head. “No. Otae is just a love interest of his that he’s been stalking for quite a while.”

Olivia’s hands shot up in front of her chest and shook her head. “You know what? I’m going to bed. Good night.”

“Wait Olivia-san! What do you think about Otae?!” Kondo screamed after her as she rushed back to her room. “What do you think I should do to get with her?”

“I think you should stop stalking her and maybe she’d give you the time of day!” She yelled back and shut her door, throwing her clothes off, getting her pajamas on and going straight to sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

It was finally her day off. After several long weeks of training, she was finally finished and had some time to herself. She wanted to make sure that it was a relaxing day.  She woke up early, took a nice, long, steaming hot shower and was able to wear her normal, every day clothes. It felt nice to wear her usual pants, boots, and shirt for once. The uniform was nice and comfy, but nothing beats someone’s own clothing.

Once ready for the day, she headed out for a nice breakfast in the city by herself. She found a nice little café and had grilled fish, miso soup, nappa cabbage and mustard greens and two cups of jasmine tea. After she settled the bill, she had a nice, quiet stroll through the park, walking towards Odd Jobs.

She didn’t even have to knock. It’s like they knew she was coming… or had been peering out the window every now and then waiting for her. Kagura was the first to greet as the young girl threw her arms around Olivia’s neck and squeezed.

“I’ve missed you so much! There’s way too much testosterone here for my liking!” She screamed in Olivia’s ear.

“Good morning Olivia-san!” Shinpachi greeted next, yanking Kagura off her neck. “We’ve all missed you. Come on in!”

She followed them in, closing the door behind her and taking her boots off before walking into the living room. “I’ve missed you all as well. How has Sadaharu been since the last time I saw him? Not getting into trouble?”

Kagura shook her head. “Nope! Not once!”

“Unless you count all the times that he’s bitten our heads,” Gintoki snorted.

“That’s good to hear!” Olivia said. “I rather not wake up at the crack of dawn again over a call about a giant dog harassing the streets of Edo again.”

“I feel sorry for you, Olivia-san,” Kagura said. “You have to work under that sadistic bastard.”

Olivia pursed her lips in thought. “Sadistic bastard… Oh! Do you mean Captain Okita?” She chuckled a bit. “We actually get along just fine. As long as you stay out of his way when he’s got some serious work to do, you’re good.”

“How do you like working for the Shinsengumi anyway?” Gin asked. “Not as much fun as here, right?”

Olivia chuckled again. “It’s quite interesting. There’s all sorts of people there and most of them are so sweet. It also keeps me busy, thankfully.”

“Eh,” Kagura waved her hand at Olivia and started to pick her nose. “Men are slobs and you’ll eventually get sick of their stupidity and come back here to live with us.”

“Well, thankfully I don’t really have to deal with cleaning up after them,” Olivia said. “I have my own room and bathroom and we all chip in with washing dishes after meals.”

“Sounds like you got it made,” Gintoki said. “I’m the only one that cleans around here.”

Shinpachi’s eye twitched. “Gin-san… I’m the only one that cleans around here. You barely lift a finger when it comes to cleaning… or cooking even.”

“Ah! Shinpachi, I almost forgot. You know the little woods area behind your house?”

“Yeah, what about it, Olivia-san?”

“Well,” She began. “If you go in, there’s a big rock in the middle of the area that’s covering a tunnel that leads to under your house.”

“W-what!?” Shinpachi nearly had a heart attack. “Why does it lead to under my house? Who would put something like that there? Why could they possibly-.”

Olivia made a judgmental expression then arched a brow. “I did not know about this tunnel until I was a member of the Shinsengumi. Who do you _think_ would do such a thing?”

“Why did you go with Gorilla-san on one of his stalking outings?” Gin-san asked, joining Kagura at picking his nose.

“I did not realize that he was stalking Otae,” She replied, crossing his arms and pouting. “I was told that we were going on a special assignment that including spying and assessing the target to see if they were traitors. I didn’t know until after we got back that he was deeply in love with Otae and has been stalking her for a while.”

There was a few knocks on the door just then and Shinpachi, still fuming, got up and trudged to get the door. A few moments later, a little old lady came hobbling into the living room and up to Gin-san’s desk.

“You’re Mr. Odd Jobs, correct?” She asked.

“Yes, ma-am. What can we do for you?” Gin asked back, putting his feet on the desk.

“It’s my cat… she’s stuck in a tree.”

Gintoki rolled his eyes hard and sighed. “Really? Don’t you call the police for that?”

“Well, I did,” She explained. “But the man on the other end said to crawl up the tree and get stuck too then they might show up to help out, and then hung up.”

“Captain Okita,” Olivia sighed.

“Look lady, just because we’re called Odd Jobs doesn’t mean we’ll do pathetic ones,” Gin told her, picking at his other nostril.

Olivia sighed, stood up and showed the lady her badge. “Olivia Achi, 1st division of the Shinsengumi. Would you be so kind as to show me the tree that your cat is stuck up?”

“O-oh! Yes! Thank you! I’ll show you the way!” The lady said, who was ecstatic that at least someone was willing to help her.

Gin-san got up and stretched, following the lady and Olivia to the shoe area. “Well, we better go too. Just in case.”

“But you just said we weren’t going to help,” Kagura sighed, but got up too to follow.

“I’m going to actually go home and doing something about that tunnel,” Shinpachi mumbled, taking off before everyone else.

The lady led them to this enormous tree that was taller than most. Actually, it was an awkwardly tall tree that was almost as tall as the space terminal. Probably a tree from some other planet that the amanto had planted there. The lady pointed up the tree and about half way up, there was a fluffy, white cat that looked relaxed.

“Meemee is stuck all the way up there.”

“Okay, Olivia-san, just take out those wings of yours and fly up there,” Gin said, smacking Olivia playfully on the back.

Olivia shook her head and rolled up her sleeves. “Nah, I don’t need to fly up there. Besides, flying zaps my energy quicker than climbing.”

“Uh, are you sure? It’s pretty high up,” He frowned, looking at the cat.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m sure.” Olivia rubbed her hands together and jumped to the first low branch.

Branch by branch she climbed with Kagura, Gin-san, and the lady looking on. There were a couple of thorny branches that she had reached, making her wish that she had just flown up, but only a tiny bit. She could still make it, she just had to watch where she was putting her hands. Leaves started to get stuck in her hair and one of the thorny branches tore at the bottom of her shirt.

“There you are kitty,” Olivia sighed in relief. The cat stared at her as she went out on the limb to grab her. Olivia’s gaze dropped and she gulped. “Wow, this is… really high… come on Meemee, I’ve got you.”

Olivia grabbed the scruff of Meemee’s neck, but instead of going limp, she hissed and started to freak out. Squirming out of Olivia’s hand, she jumped on Olivia’s head then back, making Olivia unbalanced. The cat proceeded to run down the tree and into the lady’s arms. Completely unbalanced, Olivia fell off the branch, but thankfully a vine from the tree had wrapped around her ankle.

“Uh, this is… great,” She sighed, hanging upside down, holding her shirt up and to her stomach so that she wouldn’t be exposed.

“Oi! Olivia-san!” Gin-san screamed from the ground. “Are you okay?!”

“Yes! Just help me!”

“Why don’t you just open your wings?!”

She rolled her eyes. “I have to be standing on the ground to open up my wings! I can’t do it while I’m hanging upside down!”

“Yeah, I couldn’t hear most of that!” Gin yelled back.

“Sadaharu can just shake the tree!” Kagura pointed to the tree and Sadaharu jumped on the trunk and started to shake it.

“S-stop!” Olivia screamed. The shaking was only making the vine around her ankle tighter.

“I’m just gonna call the police!” Gin called up to her.

“What! No! Just come up here!” But Gin’s little spot on the ground had already started for a phone. “Great. They’re probably going to send Captain Okita and I won’t ever live this down.

A few minutes later, the siren of a police car was heard. It was parked in the middle of the road like usual and two officers got out. One was definitely Captain Okita. She could tell by the blonde hair. The other… dark green hair… Hijikata-san. Just great. Making a fool out of herself on her very first day off.

There was the noise of the megaphone and then Captain Okita’s voice came out louder and clear. “So, how’s your first day off going? _Hanging_ in there?”

Gin-san and Kagura chuckled at that.

“Just get me down!” Olivia screamed, not liking Sogo’s mocking.

“Get yourself down. You have wings.”

Olivia’s eyes were going to fall out of her head. “I have to be standing on the ground to open my wings!”

There was some yelling that she couldn’t hear, something about Okita being stupid then Hijikata having a brain made of mayo, then Captain Okita came back on the megaphone. “If you can break whatever is keeping you from falling, one of us will catch you.”

“Who will catch me!?”

Sogo hummed. “One of us.”

Olivia started to swing back and forth a bit as she screamed. “I want to know who will catch me because honestly I don’t trust that _anyone of you_ will catch me if I fa-.”

She abruptly dropped a bit and she heard a slight breaking noise. She looked up at the vine and saw that it was breaking under all the stress of her swinging from the tree shaking to her being so frustrated that she had started to sway. All she could do was stare as the vine finally broke.

When Olivia started her quick descent, Hijikata booked it, moving every so often to be directly under Olivia so that he could catch her safely. Her screams turned into loud crying and sobbing the more she descended. Her body finally hit something, yet she still screamed and cried, thinking that she had died.

“Olivia-san.”

“I-I-I’m d-dead! I’m d-d-dead!” She cried.

“You’re alright. I’ve got you.”

Olivia stopped crying, hyperventilated for a bit, but stopped the crying. She sniffed, coughed and hacked, but eventually opened her eyes and looked up with her irritated red eyes to find her savior.

“H-Hijikata-san….” Olivia gulped and wiped away at her tears. “…Th-thank… you….”

“Just doing my job, unlike some people,” He glared at Okita who was whistling while looking the other way. “You know, she’s under your command. What would you tell Kondo-san if she had died and you didn’t even try to catch her?”

Sogo shrugged. “I don’t need to think about what I would say since she didn’t die, correct?”

“Hijikata-san… you can put me down now…,” Olivia mumbled.

“Oh, sure.” Hijikata put her feet on the ground and took his arm out from around her but she immediately stumbled on to him again.

“I don’t… I don’t feel so good,” She moaned, slowly falling to the ground. “I just need to… lie down for a bit.”

“Uh, okay,” Hijikata mumbled, setting her on her back.

Gin-san, Kagura and Sadaharu peered over Olivia. Kagura poked her with a foot. Sadaharu barked and licked her face. Gin-san grinned, bending down and leaned forward.

“You just didn’t want to fly to get that stupid cat, huh?”

Olivia’s face twisted and snarled at Gin. “Shut up.”

“Oi,” Hijikata interrupted. “Are you okay to get back to headquarters.”

Olivia thought for a second then slowly shook her head. “N-no….”

“Alright. Get ready,”

“For whaaaaaa?!”

Hijikata scooped her up off the ground and put her in the back of the police car. “We’ll get you back. I don’t trust Odd Jobs.”

“Hey! You guys didn’t even try to help her until she fell!” Kagura exclaimed with a huff at the end.

“And you guys did what exactly?” Sogo asked, getting back into the driver’s seat.

“Stop… stop…,” Olivia sighed and rubbed her temples. She looked towards Gin and gave a small grin. “It’s always a nice time at Odd Jobs, Gin-san. Even if it was short.”

Gintoki grinned back and saluted her as the car drove away. “Yep. Always a nice time.”

 

* * *

 

They got back to the headquarters a little before dinner. Both Hijikata and Okita helped Olivia to the dining area where Kondo obsessed over Olivia’s safe return. He made her sit right next to Sogo during the meal so that the Captain could help if she needed anything. Sogo sighed, obviously not wanting to do that but obliged since Kondo was his commander. However, Olivia didn’t need anything throughout the meal, but Kondo did make Sogo do her share of the clean-up and have her go straight to her room.

Olivia refused any help to her room. She just wanted to relax after the events of today. It went from nice to horrible in seconds and she wished that she had just flown up to the stupid cat. However, thinking about the way Hijikata’s arms were securely wrapped around her made her heart skip a beat.

Eventually, she got hungry again and hurried quietly to the kitchen but stopped just outside Kondo’s door when she heard that he was talking to someone; Hijikata.

“At least consider it, Toshi,” Kondo said. “She’s cute. She obviously likes you and I can tell by the way you look at her that you obviously like her as well.”

“She’s a subordinate, Kondo-san,” Toushirou replied.

“Who cares about that!?” Kondo exclaimed, obviously throwing something at Toushirou because she could hear Hijikata-san make an ‘oof’ sound. “She told me the same thing and I know that you both don’t really believe that shit!”

Hijikata stayed silent, then pipped up again. “I’m in violent and dangerous situations all the time. I cannot provide happiness for her.”

“Toshi! She lives the same life as you!” Kondo said, then sighed. “Toshi… just because you two are Shinsengumi doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy life. You can make each other happy… You already make her happy and I’m sure she makes you happy as well.”

Olivia huffed and quietly walked back to her room without getting anything from the kitchen. She could not believe that Kondo had told Hijikata-san about what he had gotten out of her in confidence! She could scream! She closed her door tightly and pulled her covers over her head once in bed.

For a split second, she wished she would have died today.


	8. Chapter 8

It had been a week since Olivia overheard Kondo talking to Hijikata and everything was awkward between them now. All their interactions were quick and rushed. He didn’t ask her to go on patrol anymore. They barely ever spoke. Once in a while, Kondo would make them go on a call together, but even on the call, they didn’t talk and they would rush it to get back and into separate spaces. She didn’t want this. She never wanted this to happen. She could have kept her feelings from him if only Kondo would have kept his mouth shut.

“Alright! Alright!” Kondo had called everyone out to the courtyard for something. As always, Olivia hung out in the back of the crowd, but today it was for a different reason. She just didn’t want to see Hijikata. “Our gardener died a few days ago and we haven’t found a new one! So, I need someone to volunteer to weed the gardens and near the porch!”

_‘…Really? This is what he calls us out for?’_ But Olivia’s hand shot up into the air. “I’ll do it!”

Back on her home planet, she had her own private garden and even a greenhouse that she would spend hours and hours a day tending to. A maid of hers took some of her vegetables to the planet fair and brought home a big trophy that said ‘Best in Show’. She loved it. Given this was only weeding and not actually planting anything, but still, it would keep her mind off of Hijikata for the time being.

Everyone quickly dispersed before Kondo could give anyone else gardening to do. He gave a small frown watching everyone walk away, then he threw a pair of gloves at Olivia and thanked her for being a good sport about it. She put her sword against her room door and got to work weeding.

It was relaxing; not having to really concentrate on anything Shinsengumi related. All she thought of was gardening. She would make small comments to herself about how some of the plants needed extra care while some would needed to be move to a shadier spot or how some were over watered. It was sad that their gardener had died, but these gardens were a mess and they seriously needed a new gardener around here. Poor plants.

“Oi.”

“Hm?” Olivia turned around to meet the gaze of Captain Okita. She saluted then relaxed. “Hello Captain Okita. Did you need something from me?”

Sogo took a step towards her, making her a bit uncomfortable. “I need you to come with me.”

Olivia cocked her head. “But I’m not finished with the task that Commander Kondo-sensei gave me.”

He took another step towards her. “Who cares? I’m your captain. I have an assignment for you.”

“Mmm,” She bit her lip anxiously. Captain Okita was acting kind of strange. He was there when Kondo had given her the assignment. Why couldn’t he get someone else to help him with whatever he needed?

“Come.” He suddenly gripped her arm and her eyes grew wide.

“Captain-.” Her gaze went straight to his eyes. They were black as the night. Captain Okita’s were brownish-red.

Deep blue turned to ice.

Her other hand balled up into a tight fist and she swung it at his face. He immediately took a few steps back, releasing his grip on her. She whipped around and lunged for her sword. Grabbing it by the handle, she immediately unsheathed it, making the sheath whip up into the air and ran straight at “Captain Okita” who also had his sword out and at the ready.

“It’s been a while, Akemi,” It hissed, slamming his sword into hers and really making the lower half of her body work.

Olivia didn’t reply. _It_ didn’t deserve a reply. She angled her sword and was able to swipe It’s sword away so that it didn’t hit her once her sword came down to her side. She jumped back and lunged forward at the thing, trying to give It a few quick stabs in the abdomen, but It too jumped back out of the way.

“Hey! Hey!” Kondo and Hijikata had heard the ruckus and came storming out of headquarters. “Olivia-san! Sogo! What is going on here!?”

Once Kondo’s booming voice sounded, some more members poked their heads out of the building and hesitantly came to see what was going on.

Olivia pointed at “Captain Okita” and growled. “That is not Captain Okita! That is a shapeshifter!”

Kondo and Hijikata looked at each and Kondo spoke once again, “What are you talking about?”

“Yeah, Olivia-san,” The real Sogo had come to stand on the other side of Kondo eating a sandwich. Hijikata and Kondo whipped their heads to stare at Sogo. “What are you talking about? That’s really me.”

The shapeshifter shrugged with a chuckle. “Guess the secrets out.”

The whites of It’s eyes went black just like It’s pupils and it started to awkwardly transform out of Sogo’s body into It’s original state of being. It looked kind of like the alien from the acclaimed movie “Alien” but with long, razor sharp nails and It’s skin was a smooth metallic-like substance.

“A few of my comrades found out about your secret escape,” The shapeshifter said. “They sent me to finish the job.”

“I’m not going to die. Not today,” Olivia sneered, fixing the sword in her hand and getting into an attack position.

“Oh but I wouldn’t be doing my job if I let you live,” It replied, getting his razor like nails ready.

Not saying another word, they both charged at each other. Olivia swung her blade at it and the shapeshifter flung It’s claws at her. They both halted their attack once they had completely switched places in the yard. Olivia had only left a little cut on the shapeshifter’s arm while It had done something worse. Olivia coughed up a bit of blood and went down on her knees. Deep claw marks ran from the side of her stomach over her hip and ended at her back near where her kidney would be.

Kondo and everyone unsheathed their swords but had no time to attack. The shapeshifter whipped It’s tails around, sending the Shinsengumi flying back to the ground. Then, It’s tail wrapped around Olivia’s body and threw her into the nearest tree; leaving her sword on the ground where she had fallen to her knees. Once she had fallen to the ground, the tree cracked and fell, trapping her under its trunk. The shapeshifter picked up her sword, ambled over to where she lay under the tree and thrusted the sword into her sword hand, making her scream in agony.

“There’s too many humans around to fight.” The shapeshifter said. “I’m not here to harm any humans. I’m here only for you. Come find me alone once you can actually put up a fight.”

“You’re not going anywhere!” Hijikata yelled, jumping up off the ground and booking it towards the shapeshifter.

“I think I am.” It grinned and in a flash, jumped to the top of the Shinsengumi headquarters and vanished.

He growled at the empty rooftop but there was no time for anything else. “Hurry! Let’s get this tree off her!” Hijikata dropped his sword and with some other members, including Kondo, heaved the trunk off Olivia.

Olivia stirred once the tree was lifted from her body, then got to her knees and ripped the sword from her hand and with shaky legs got up from the ground.

“We have to take you-!”

“I’m fine,” She hissed, cutting off Kondo.

“No. You’re obviously not fine! You have to go-!”

“I’ll take care of my wounds myself,” She said, cutting off the very concerned Commander again. “…I just need some space.”

She flicked the blood off her sword and limped back to her room. Kondo started to follow, but Hijikata and Sogo grabbed him by the shoulders and shook their head. She left her boots and sword outside her room and shut the door tight. She covered her mouth, slowly slid to the floor and a sudden wave of tears started to stream down her face. She cried in silence. They had found her. She wasn’t ready to die, but she knew she couldn’t actually beat the darn beast. How could she? It knew practically everything about her, her fighting style, even all of her magic. She didn’t even know all of her magic due to not finishing her training.

She was alone and by being alone, it made her think.

Olivia eventually stopped her blubbering and got a bowl of water and a towel from her bathroom. She sat down against one of the rooms walls and tried to clean out her wound, but she hesitated with every touch of the towel. She couldn’t even reach where the wound ended and her hand burned with every movement.

“Looks as though you could use another pair of hands.”

She didn’t even need to see who it was. “Looks like I forgot to close the inner door, huh?”

Hijikata nodded. “I brought some peroxide and bandages for your wounds.” He took a step in. “Will you let me help?”

“…Make sure to close the door behind you please.”

He obeyed, shutting the door behind him, making a hidden Kondo groan in protest. The Vice-Chief came to Olivia’s side and sat down even though there was blood everywhere on the floor. He took the soaked towel from the bowel and took her hand gently in his. She winced at the motion and even more at the cleaning. The hand wound didn’t take long to clean and bandage. Next, he analyzed her side wound, trying to figure out how the best way to deal with it was.

“If it’s not too uncomfortable for you, would you mind taking off your jacket and shirt?” He asked. “It’ll be easier for me to get to the wound.”

Olivia nodded and took off her jacket and shirt, exposing her bra, but they both didn’t mind. This was a serious issue. There was no reason to be bashful.

Hijikata stopped and traced her left arm absentmindedly. “I didn’t realize you had a tattoo.”

“O-oh….” She didn’t even think about it. The roses that covered her whole left arm from shoulder to wrist were dark blue and fully exposed. “Akemi’s have tattoos to show their rankings in civilization….”

He resumed his cleaning and sighed. Whether it was an annoyed or a frustrated sigh, she couldn’t tell. “You really should go to the hospital-.”

“Hijikata-san…,” Olivia mumbled, interrupting the Vice-Chief. She looked at him, making eye contact and holding it. “Will you train me?”

He stayed silent for a moment then replied, “You don’t think you’re going to fight that thing again, do you?”

She broke eye contact and grit her teeth, because of his words but mostly because of the wound being cleaned out. “I’m the reason my whole planet was destroyed.”

Hijikata arched an eyebrow. “That’s absurd.”

“Do you know how shapeshifters are able to destroy planets?” She asked, making eye contact again.

He shook his head.

“Shapeshifters have massive numbers,” She started, wincing every once in a while, because of the pain. “They send a couple to a planet to seek out the strongest lifeform on that planet. Then, they all attack at once, but they’re not in the regular forms, they have all transformed into that strong lifeform. They can easily pull out any and all potential that lifeform has. That’s how they fight.” Olivia looked down with a sigh. “I am the strongest of the Akemi. I didn’t finish my training in magic so they were able to pull out spells that were way beyond anyone’s knowledge even my own… I should have left the planet earlier. Maybe this could have all been avoided if I had but I was stubborn and wanted to help fight them off.”

Toushirou ripped at the ending of the bandage and fastened it to the other parts of the bandage that had already been wrapped around her. He organized everything so that it could easily be cleaned up, but instead of leaving, he stayed sitting by her side.

“You shouldn’t blame yourself for that,” Hijikata said. “You wanted to help your people.”

“I shouldn’t….” Olivia’s face twisted into a convoluted expression. “Hijikata-san, my people are dead because of me. Why shouldn’t I blame myself for that?” She winced from the slight motion causing her wound to heat up in pain. “…I should have died with my kin.”

“…Don’t say that.” He mumbled. “I like having you here… we all do.”

Olivia smiled. “Heh. I like being here with you and everyone.”

“…Listen.” Oh no. Here it comes. “I’m sorry I’ve been distant this past week. I’ve just had a lot on my mind.”

Olivia shook her head. “No need to apologize. It’s okay. I… I understand.”

“Here, let me help you clean up,” Hijikata stood, taking the bowel, towel and everything else with him into the bathroom.

“Hijikata-san… you never answered my question.”

He came out of her bathroom with a confused look. “What question?”

“…Will you train me?”

He stared at her for a bit, mulling it over then sighed, scratched his head and nodded. “If that’s really what you want, I’ll teach you everything I know.”


	9. Chapter 9

For the next couple of days, Olivia insisted that Hijikata train her and every day he told her to let her wounds heal even just a little, but she _insisted_ that she couldn’t wait that long. Every morning they would spare and just before lunch, Kondo would demand that she stop for the day and rest. She wasn’t allowed on patrol nor on calls even when they weren’t that physically demanding. Kondo had told her that if she wouldn’t let him take her to the hospital, the only things she could do was rest and if she must, train in the morning with Toshi.

Captain Okita obviously had better things to do than make sure one of his subordinates was resting up instead of overworking herself. He left that to Kondo and Hijikata who honestly didn’t mind. It may have been a bit of an annoyance, but what was more of an annoyance was seeing the Captain not care about his subordinates. Kondo was the doting type; making sure that she had everything that she wanted and needed throughout the day. It got on her nerve as the day went on. Hijikata was different. He didn’t get her anything unless she asked for it. He would allow her to get up and be out of her room. He was better company than Kondo.

“Find your weak spots before I find them for you!” Hijikata growled, swinging the wooden sword with such speed and precision that it caught Olivia off balance.

All the thumping and jutting around irritated the wound at her side and pain shot through her body, making her fall to her knees. “ _Damn it_ ,” She hissed, using her wooden sword to try to get back on to her feet, but her legs didn’t want to listen anymore.

“I think we’ll have to end there,” He said, setting his sword aside and kneeling beside her. “I’ll help you up and to your room.”

“I’m fine, Hijikata-san,” Olivia insisted, trying ever so desperately to get up again. “I can go for one more round at least.”

He grabbed on to her arm gently but hard enough to hold her down where she kneeled. “Your side is starting to bleed.”

“It can last.”

Hijikata shook his head and gave her a serious, hard stare. “Even the best samurai know when to give their body a break.”

He was right. _Of course_ he was right. She let him take the sword from her and helped her back into her room. He made sure that both doors were tightly shut so he could help her re-wrap her side without getting any snickering from the other members or even Kondo with his little comments about how cute it was that he was the only one able to help her do such a thing. ‘She must really trust you!’ he would say while trying to hold in his laughter ‘You’re so lucky!’

“Do you want lunch?” Hijikata asked, putting back the bandage wraps in her bathroom. “You worked hard this morning. You should be hungry.”

Olivia shook her head and rolled on to her side with a sigh. “I think I’m just going to sleep.”

“Alright,” Hijikata opened the door. “I’ll send Sogo to get you when it’s dinner time. You at least need to eat dinner.”

Olivia nodded and Hijikata closed the door, leaving her to her dreams.

Toshi had an easy going type of day. Only one call for a local disturbance regarding a screaming family that wouldn’t shut up no matter how many people complained to them. He would have gone on patrol by himself, but he didn’t want Kondo checking up on Olivia every five minutes just to see if she needed anything. Instead, he went back to the training room to work out by himself. It eventually became dinner time.

“Oi, Sogo.” Hijikata sat down in his usual spot in the dining area for dinner after taking a long, relaxing shower. “Can you go get Olivia for dinner?”

“Why can’t you go get her? You two are love birds.”

“Sogo!” Hijikata fumed. “She’s under your command! You should at least go get her! You haven’t cared about her well-being at all!”

“Alright, alright mayo-san,” Okita hoisted himself up and left for Olivia’s room.

“Toshi… how’s she doing?” Kondo asked.

Hijikata pulled his cigarette out of his mouth and blew out the smoke. “She pushes herself to the point where her body gives out from under her. She’s definitely dedicated but also on the verge of her own destruction.”

“Sounds like someone else I know, hm?” Kondo wiggled his eyebrows and Hijikata rolled his eyes.

Sogo came back but without Olivia and sat down in his usual spot. “So, does anyone know what dinner is?”

“Uh, where’s Olivia-san?” Toshi asked.

Sogo shrugged. “She wasn’t in her room.”

“Whaaaat!?” Kondo and Hijikata yelled, jumping up from their seats. “She wasn’t in there!?”

“No,” Sogo said. “Her boots were gone along with a clean uniform from her closet and her sword.”

“Alright! There’s no time! We have to move!” Hijikata exclaimed, pulling Sogo up from his seat. “Yamazaki! You’re in charge until we get back!”

“Yes sir!”

Hijikata pulled Sogo along with Kondo to the first police car; Hijikata in the driver’s seat, Kondo in the passenger and Sogo in the back. He turned on the siren and stepped on the gas, making the car lurch forward.

“Toshi! We don’t even know where she is!” Kondo said as Hijikata swerved in and out of the streets of Edo.

“No, we don’t, but we know some people who can help us find her…,” He sighed heavily. “I never thought that we would be asking these guys for help.”

“Do you mean Odd Jobs?” Sogo asked, poking his head in between Kondo’s and Toshi’s.

“Unfortunately,” Hijikata replied in a mumble, stopping the car short as they almost passed Odd Jobs.

They all got out quickly; Hijikata quicker than the others and ran up the steps to bang on the door of Odd Jobs.

“We’re closed! Go away!” Gintoki’s voice echoed through the apartment.

“Open up! It’s the Shinsengumi!” Hijikata yelled, banging on the door harder.

“Then we are definitely not home at all!” Kagura’s voice rang.

“It’s about Olivia-san!” Kondo said and immediately, the door was opened by both Gin and Kagura with dead serious faces.

“What did you guys do to her?” Gin asked.

“Hey! Blondie! Did you scare her away with your sadistic ways?” Kagura poked Sogo in the chest.

“Nothing like that happened,” Hijikata waved his hand dismissively. “About a week ago, something attacked her, I think she called it a shapeshifter and we- I- think that she’s gone to fight the thing again by herself, but we… we need you to help us find her.”

“Oh ho ho!” Gin-san grinned, rubbing his chin. “You actually need our help, ay?”

“Stop your insufferable mocking and help us find her!”

“It’s your fault for leaving her be in the first place!” Gintoki said. “You know how she is! She’ll shoulder everything if she believes that it’s only her responsibility!”

Hijikata leaned back on the railings. His gaze relaxed into a more upsetting expression and peered down to the floor. “I thought… I thought she was sleeping. She said she was going to sleep. I didn’t want to be a creep and watch her while she slept, so I went through the day like I would have normally.” He gritted his teeth. “Please. Help me… Help us. Please.”

“Alright, alright.” Gintoki waved his hands at him. “Just don’t get all mopey on me. Geez.”


	10. Chapter 10

Once Hijikata had shut the door, with eyes glowing an icy blue color, Olivia threw off her covers and got up from her mattress. She went into her bathroom, took the bandages from the counter and wrapped herself up again so she would be double protected from the wound leaking with blood. She threw off her clothes that were still damp from her training and ran the shower, making sure to get in and out quickly so that the bandages wouldn’t soak up any of the water. She grabbed a fresh uniform from her closet and made sure to put it on as neatly as possible. If she got caught while she was trying to get out of headquarters with a rushed outfit, they would know that she was trying to sneak out to meet up with the shapeshifter.

Olivia looked at her clock. It was exactly time for lunch. Almost everyone would be in the dining area by now and the few people who usual come to check on her were probably told by Hijikata that she was sleeping and to not wake her. She cracked open her bedroom door leading outside and peered out. She grabbed her boots and sword and put them on in her room then peered out again to make sure that there was absolutely no one on that side of headquarters. She slipped through, closed the door quietly and headed straight for the gates of headquarters. She could always count on the members to not guard the gates during lunch time.

Before closing the gate behind her, she looked back and teared up a bit. “Sorry, Hijikata-san. This is my war. I need to do this myself.”

Olivia walked quietly through the streets, making sure to stay away from the parts that were being patrolled at the moment which were only a few since it was lunch time. The shapeshifter didn’t tell her where to meet, but she knew exactly where to go. To the docks. Shapeshifters, even though they couldn’t swim while they were in their original form, liked being near water as much as possible.

When there, she couldn’t find anyone or anything that looked like the shapeshifter. She sat down in between a pile of boxes and hid herself until she felt that evil energy that shapeshifters emitted. She had been distracted when It attacked last time. But, she wouldn’t be distracted this time.

Lunchtime turned into afternoon tea then into a little before dinner time. It was quite dark and the docks had been deserted for the night. But all of a sudden, that evil energy came wafting into her own energy field. She got up and peered out over the boxes to see the shapeshifter urging her to follow it. She obeyed, following it to a part of the docks that looked like they had actually been abandoned.

“I’m surprised that you came without those people that you have attached yourself to,” The shapeshifter wheezed out a laugh. “Or did they want to come and you gave them the slip?”

“You don’t need to know, shapeshifter.”

It frowned and crossed its arms over its chest. “We have an actual name you know. We are Boagles.”

“I don’t give a shit!” Olivia unsheathed her sword and was at the ready in seconds. “I will never forgive you for what you and your kin did to my people! I will kill you right here and right now!”

“I wouldn’t be doing my job correctly if you killed me.”

They went at each other with as much force as possible; trying to find each other’s weakness as soon as possible. The shapeshifter had the upper hand though. First, it wasn’t severely wounded in the side and dominant hand. Second, it had much more training under its belt than she did. Finally, it had more experience actually fighting with different amanto throughout the universe. She had barely left her home let alone the actual planet.

“There she is!”

“Olivia-san!”

Olivia’s face fell into an expression of disappointment and groaned loudly. _‘Why did they have to search for me?_ ’ She thought. If she was going to die by this monster’s hands, she wanted to die alone without anyone having to shed a tear over the scene that they had witnessed.

Olivia stood up straight and put her injured hand towards the Shinsengumi and the Odd Jobs gang minus Shinpachi, that were running at her. “ _Goddess of energy and air, give me protection! Lucet dome_!”

A shining light above the battle field shown bright and brought down a transparent shield like dome that only held Olivia and the shapeshifter in it. Hijikata and the others crashed into the thing.

“Olivia!” Hijikata screamed, unsheathing his sword and slashing at the dome, but it didn’t even leave a scratch.

“I thought that Akemi’s had to open their wings to use magic,” The shapeshifter said.

Olivia nodded. “Usually, but this is a simple spell. No one can break through this dome, but we can talk to each other from either side.”

“Olivia-san!’ They all screamed in unison.

“Open up this damn thing!” Hijikata demanded.

“Don’t sacrifice yourself for your pride!” Gintoki told her. “Don’t sacrifice yourself at all!”

“You know, Akemi,” The shapeshifter began, ignoring the screams of the gang and the banging of the dome. “I’m not here to harm any humans. If you just die, I’ll leave Edo and all your little friends right here will be out of harm’s way.”

Olivia’s gaze shifted downwards for a moment, but she shook her head and went back into an attack stance. “I don’t think so.”

“Akemi, Akemi,” The shapeshifter shook his head with a laugh, then transformed into Captain Okita once again. “Why do you intend to fight me?”

They rushed at each other once more. Steel clashing against steel. A few whimpers came from Olivia as her wounds opened up more and more and thus pain shot from them and eventually her whole body felt like it was being electrocuted, but she wouldn’t back down. After clashing blades, they both eventually backed off each other, but it didn’t take long until the shapeshifter was bolting towards her again, but this time as Kondo. Olivia never had a chance to actually spare with Kondo, but according to Hijikata, he was slow but a hard hitter.

“Why do you fight me, Akemi?” The shapeshifter asked again. “Your whole family is dead. Your people are gone. You’re the only one left. Your home land is destroyed.” The shapeshifter pushed away, transformed into Gintoki and attacked her again. “You have nothing left to fight for. So answer me. Why do you fight?”

Thankfully, Gintoki didn’t carry an actual sword meaning that the shapeshifter didn’t have one either. Gintoki’s wooden sword was strong, but she knew that they didn’t have much stability when being pushed around.

“You even came to this fight already bleeding!” The shapeshifter laughed.

Olivia strained all her muscles to push the shifter Gintoki away. She brought her sword to her side and waited for her breathing to even out before answering. “There are a few reasons as to why I fight. For starters, I rather not die.” The shifter Gintoki came at her, but she deflected the prods from the wooden sword and backed off. “Second, I protect the honor and legacy of my people. For everyone that you destroyed. The final reason I fight….” She looked towards the people that she was keeping away with her spell. “I fight for my family. Both the Shinsengumi and Odd Jobs have become my family and I fight for them.”

“Oh, how touching,” The shapeshifter mocked and went after her again. “But they’re going to watch you die.”

She pushed away once again, but she looked away from the shifter for a few moments as she set up her feet for another attack. With her full strength, she swung her sword straight at the shapeshifter’s neck, but hesitated as she saw Hijikata’s face staring at her. Of course it was the shapeshifter, but she couldn’t help it. Her eyes widened as she realized that she had hesitated for too long, and the shifter slashed its sword across her chest then swiped it under her legs, making her fall flat on her face.

“Olivia-san!” Hijikata banged on the dome, but still it didn’t seem to even put a dent in it.

The shifter Hijikata chuckled as it walked towards the group, specifically Hijikata with a smirk on its face. “Oh how wonderful it is to be young and falling in love… Well, for me anyway since she hesitated because she didn’t want to hurt you, human. Well, what _looked_ like you anyway.”

Hijikata’s fists tightened to the point where the veins in his hands were bursting out of his skin and a bit of blood oozed from his palms. “If you kill her, you won’t be alive for long after.”

“Oh, I intend to kill her… as you,” The shifter winked. “Just imagine, knowing that you are about to die… knowing that your love is the one about to do it and the last thing you see is their face before you lose yourself to the reaper. Hijikata Toushirou, you’ll be the reason for her down fall.”

“That’s beyond sadistic,” Okita spat. “That’s cruel.”

“What is the difference, Captain Okita?” The shifter grinned, now staring at Sogo. “Enlighten me. What’s the difference between what _you_ do and what I’m _going_ to do?”

“Playing with a person’s heart,” Kondo answered for Okita. “Olivia-san is a kind, gentle woman. Playing with her heart is way more sadistic than anything Sogo would do.”

Kagura poked Gin-san and whispered. “Why doesn’t she use magic?”

“Because she’s weak!” The shifter screeched. “She’s the strongest out of the Akemi but she still can’t use her full strength! How sad it that!?”

“You want… me to use magic?” Olivia had stood up while the shifter was talking shit and now her wings, wispy, bright, electric-like wings, opened from her back. “You’ve got it.” She out stretched her fingers and ice ran towards the shifter, running up its legs, hips and eventually enveloping its whole body in a thin layer of ice.

The ice was thin, so it broke out quickly, transforming back into its original form. It attacked with its claws, but the only thing it was slashing was the air. Olivia had flown up to the top of dome and was trying to get a sense of the battle area. The shifter growled and booked it towards the wall of the dome. He jumped, and pushed off the wall, flying towards her. Why didn’t she make the dome taller?

The shifter sunk its nails into her leg and brought her down to the ground with him. Its nails ripped out of her leg once they hit the ground and Olivia’s body bounced away from the landing spot. Olivia quickly got herself together and dragged herself a little further from the shifter until she felt comfortable getting up off the ground.

“Give it up, Akemi,” The shapeshifter said. “Whatever you do, I’ll always find a way to bring you down.”

Olivia made a pained face then smirked. “ _Winding up and clutching to the ground, rooting where one stands, ferro vines.”_

Roots uprooted themselves and wrapped around the shifter’s legs, tightening around them and holding it in place. The shifter’s claws could barely put a dent in the roots and whenever it tried to move, they tightened and pulled down.

“Tch,” The shapeshifter sneered. “Do you really think this is going to stop me? At all?”

Olivia shook her head. “No… but this next one might.” Her wings began to glow a dark red color and her eyes seemed to glow as well. “ _Burn the bones and singe the skin_ -,” The ground underneath the shifter started to shake and crack. “ _Torch the earth, turn the heavens into ash.”_ The ground under the shifter caved. “ _Blazing inferno!”_

The hole beneath the shifter erupted with fire like a volcano spouting lava for the first time. It burned the vines, but it also scorched the shapeshifter who screeched like a dying owl. It bellowed curses at Olivia through its screams and shrieks until its body was scorched too much for it to handle. The scorching fire had literally turned the shapeshifter to ashes.

Olivia slumped her shoulders and sighed. “It’s finally over… with the one anyway…. There will be more in the future, I know it, but for the time being… it’s over. _From the heavens above appears an essential of life… pluviam showers.”_

What was supposed to happen was a rain cloud was to appear over the fire and put it out. Instead, what happened was a rain cloud appeared over her head like in cartoons and Olivia was now, not only in pain from the fight, but soaked from head to toe.

Olivia freaked out and flung her arms wildly in the air above her towards the cloud. “Not me! The fire! The fire!”

The cloud disappeared then reappeared over the fire, eventually putting it out but there was a huge hole still in the ground. Thankfully, this part of the docks was abandoned but she still might need to fill it. With the flames extinguished, she snapped her fingers and the dome separating her and the gangs vanished and she was immediately surrounded by most of the Odd Jobs gang first.

“Oi… Kagura, you’re… a little tight and I’m getting blood on you,” Olivia said.

“I don’t care!” Kagura cried, shoving her face into Olivia’s neck. “How could you do this to us?! Your family?!”

“I agree, Olivia-san!” Kondo was next to come rushing into the group hug. “We’re a family too!”

“Well, family is one thing, but you are still a rookie,” Captain Okita said. “And you’re under my command. If something happened to you, I would have to do all this paperwork and even help with the funeral and it would just be a pain.”

Olivia smirked. “Heh. How thoughtful.”

“So, don’t go out on your own to fight a dangerous amanto again.” He poked what he could of her arm. “This is a command from your Captain.”

Olivia nodded. “Understood.”

“Oh, Sogo!” Kondo grabbed him and pulled him into the hug next. “You don’t have to be embarrassed in saying that we’re family!”

“Kondo-san… can you please let me go?” Sogo tried to pull away from Kondo, but his grip was tight and he eventually gave up.

“Family sticks together no matter how dangerous the situation may be,” Gintoki told her. “If Shinpachi were here, I’m sure he would agree.”

“Thank you….” Olivia sighed, but then became aware of the fact that she didn’t have her sword. “… Has anyone seen my sword?”

She heard a click and then Hijikata came up in front and outstretched his hand with her sword in its sheath. “Doesn’t even have a scratch on it.”

“Hijikata-san….” She wiggled out of everyone’s grip and took her sword. “Thank you.” Her cheeks flared up and she looked away.

Hijikata grinned and took out the cigarette from his mouth. “Is it too hot for you out here?”

Olivia nodded. “Indeed… and I’m pretty sure my legs are about to give out.”

Hijikata was about to wrap his arm around her to keep her supported, but Kagura and Gintoki got to her first with eyes glaring at Hijikata.

“We’ll help you stand, Sis,” Kagura said.

“Sis?” Olivia blinked.

“We were her family first, V hair!” Kagura hissed, squeezing tighter. “Don’t lay a finger on her!”

“… V hair?” Hijikata’s nose scrunched up and he snorted.

“Kagura-chan….” Olivia winced, slightly because of the pain but more because she had wanted Hijikata to help her.

Gintoki seemed to realize something was wrong. He looked down at her, then at Hijikata, then back down at her and it seemed to finally click. He smiled and grabbed ahold of Kagura. “Hijikata-san can help her, Kagura.”

“But Gin-chan-!” Gintoki moved her away from the two and nodded for Hijikata to make his move.

Hijikata smirked slightly, nodded and put his arm supportively around her. “Now… will you let us take you to the hospital this time?”

Olivia chuckled. “If that’s what you want to do. I will not stop you.”

“Good. You’ll finally get some much needed rest and you’ll be _forced_ to rest…. I, er, have a second question,” Hijikata coughed, clearing his throat before continuing. “After you’ve fully recovered, will you, uh, go on a date with me?”

“Oh my….” She felt her cheeks get hot and red. “I seem to be the one getting all flustered now.” She giggled, stumbling a bit as she was helped to the police car. “I think that would be wonderful, Hijikata-san.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The more hours I take editing, the more I hate the outcome of a chapter aaaaaaaa


	11. Chapter 11

Things had died down over the next few weeks. Olivia stayed at the hospital for two of those weeks with hundreds of stitches throughout most of her body and for severe blood loss. She was thankful that she was an amanto and not a human with the amount of blood that she had lost. If she were human, she would have surely been dead. Each day, someone from the Shinsengumi came by to keep her company. A couple of times, Odd Jobs came by as well, but they didn’t- or _weren’t_ allowed to stay for more than a couple of hours. Something about being a distraction to the doctors and nurses once or twice… maybe even five times before.

Once Olivia was back at headquarters, they didn’t put too much on her at first. She was seen as a brand new member again, but she assumed it was for the best. She still didn’t feel 100% after returning from the hospital anyway. She grew tired and sore easily, but each day it would get better.

Then, the time had come for her date with the Vice-Chief.

There was a hard knock on Olivia’s door a couple of hours before the actual date. She frowned at the sound, but opened it anyway being surprised when it was Captain Okita, Kondo, and Yamazaki.

“Are you excited for tonight, Olivia-san?” Kondo asked with the biggest, stupid smile on his face.

“Indeed I am.”

“Have you figured out what to wear?”

“Well….”

“What about how you’re going to do your hair?” Sogo asked, surprising her with how interested his words sounded.

“N-no….”

“How about make up?” Yamazaki asked.

“N-not… really….”

They all barged in, practically trampling Olivia, and shut the door behind them. They all smiled strangely at her. She arched her brow and out from behind their backs came everything that she would need to get ready for tonight. Kondo had a lovely pink Yukata with flower designs all over it. Okita had an assortment of hair accessories, spray, gel, and brushes, and Yamazaki had a big bag of make up making her wonder why and where they all got those things.

“Good thing we came at the time we did,” Yamazaki said, looking at her clock. “We’ll need every second!”

“… _We’ll_ need every second?” Olivia gulped.

“We’re going to help you get ready for your date!” Kondo exclaimed. “We know what Toshi likes! We’re going to help you!”

“Unfortunately,” Sogo quickly added.

“Uh… I-I guess that’s alright….” She mumbled, proceeding to twirl her hair. “But you guys don’t, uh, get to see me change… if I need help with any part of the Yukata, I’ll call Captain Okita to help.”

Okita pushed Kondo out of the way and with a creepy almost… sadistic looking smile, said, “Hair is the first thing that needs to be done.”

Olivia kind of regretted opening the door at all, but Sogo was pretty gentle with all her hair. Her bangs and side bangs were pulled back out of her face and the rest of her hair was pulled up into a neat, tight bun that he sprayed with a generous coating of hairspray. He finalized the style with two hair sticks that had wooden, pink flowers at the ends.

Then came Yamazaki’s turn to do her make up. She refused to wear anything too bright and picked out the colors that she definitely would not wear and the colors that were a must, which were only two and they were both dark colors. Yamazaki nodded and proceeded to work his magic. He went for a more natural look, keeping the foundation the same color as her skin, putting a nude lipstick on, a nude eye shadow with the suggested ‘must’ colors at the outer corners of her eyes.

Once done, Olivia shooed Yamazaki out of the bathroom, grabbed the Yukata from Kondo and shut the bathroom door. She had never worn a Yukata before, but it seemed easy enough to put it on. The only part she needed Okita for was the belt around her waist.

“Well? How do I look?” Olivia asked, coming out of the bathroom and giving them a twirl. “How did you know my size?”

“We had the tailor that did your uniforms make the Yukata,” Kondo said.

“Are you going to wear sandals?” Okita asked.

Olivia shook her head. “No. I don’t feel comfortable in sandals. I would like to wear my normal boots if… if you think that’s okay.”

They all looked at each other with blank faces, then nodded.

“You’re ready,” Kondo said.

“With a few minutes to spare too,” Yamazaki said.

Okita was the first one to start out the door. “Hijikata-san is probably waiting for you at the gates.”

And he was. Sporting a dark yukata, sandals and his usual cigarette in his mouth, he waited with arms folded by the headquarter gates.

“Sorry if I kept you waiting.”

“Not at all. It’s still-,” Once he had turned to face her, he froze with his mouth slightly agape.

“Er,” Olivia blushed, bending a leg slightly and playing with the fabric of her sleeves. “Captain Okita, Kondo-sensei and Yamazaki-san helped me get ready.”

Hijikata coughed and turned around, motioning her to walk with him. “… You look nice.”

Not what she was expecting, but it was something. She looked back over her shoulder one last time to see Kondo, in tears, waving at her as to say goodbye.

_What a drama queen._

She followed Hijikata to the downtown area where the nightlife was just starting to heat up. Every time his hand bumped into hers, she wanted to take it and hold it gently. Walking hand in hand was a couples thing right? Or at least a dating thing? But she never got the courage to do so. The whole way to the restaurant, Hijikata didn’t even gaze at her. It was odd. Was he just as nervous as she was? No… he couldn’t be. Kondo said he was popular with the ladies, so surely he’s been on many more dates than she had been on.

She followed him into a nice looking restaurant and were seated immediately. The waitres looked exhausted, but tried to keep her smile cheery anyway. They ordered two glasses of water and Hijikata ordered a bottle of sake with two cups.

“You’ll like this sake,” He said, finishing his cigarette. “It’s sweeter than usual sake. I actually prefer it, but the bitter sake is always bought by the others when we have events.”

“I’ve never had sake before,” Olivia said, burying her burning face into her menu. “We had alcohol on my home planet but we never had sake. It just didn’t sell on the market so we stopped transporting it.”

“You know a lot about the markets and the economy for someone who was banned from leaving her house for years,” Hijikata said.

“Haha… yeah….” She gulped. Not wanting to explain further, she shut her mouth, making it slightly awkward.

The sake and water came to the table. They both ordered while they were at it. Olivia ordered the baked tonkatsu and Hijikata ordered some sushi platter. The waitress nodded and left to put in their order. Olivia immediately wondered if he put mayonnaise on sushi. She wouldn’t hesitate to bet that he did.

Hijikata poured some sake into each of the cups and raised his. “Cheers.”

Olivia mimicked the action. “Cheers.”

And they both downed their drinks.

“Oh!” Olivia’s face twisted at the slight burning going down her throat and her already red cheeks got redder.

Toushirou grinned with a slight chuckle. “Not your kind of drink?”

Olivia shook her head. “No. I like it! It’s making me all warm inside.”

“Good.” Hijikata poured another cup for the both of them and they downed it.

“Mmm, Hijikata-san, how does Yamazaki-san know a lot about make up?”

Hijikata shrugged. “Beats me.”

“And Captain Okita with the hair?”

Hijikata shrugged again. “Probably his sister.”

She kept quiet after that.

Olivia was surprised at the fact that he wasn’t smoking. He usually smoked a cigarette one after the other. They finished the sake just before their meals came and to her surprise, and relief, Hijikata did not put mayonnaise on his sushi. After their dinner, they split a plate of mocha ice cream.

Hijikata insisted that he pay the bill even though Olivia made the argument that he paid for lunch on their first patrol together so she should pay or at least pay half. Hijikata was having none of that though. They left the restaurant and walked through the streets for a while. Again, Hijikata did not even look at her nor did she have the courage to hold his hand. They walked deeper into the downtown area into a little street fair with games, fair vendors, and small children rides.

“Hey lady! Yes, you! Beautiful lady!” A game host yelled after Olivia making her stop and pay attention to him. “How about a game? Shoot any of the prizes with the bb gun and win that prize!”

Olivia smiled but waved her hand dismissively. “N-no thank you. I’m not a very good shooter.”

“Well, maybe your boyfriend there might give it a try, hm?”

Hijikata shrugged and came up to the game stand, putting a few coins on the table for the host to take. Then went on one knee and aimed with one of the guns provided by the game stand. First try, he shot and downed a small, white, fluffy plush rabbit.

“Congratulations sir!” The host yelled, flashing the lights of the game stand. “You win the plush bunny!” From under the stand, he took out a fresh plush bunny and gave it to Hijikata.

“Thanks.” He took the bunny, turned around and handed it to Olivia with a slight blush on his cheeks. “Uh… here.”

She smiled softly and took the bunny, holding it close to her chest. “Thank you, Hijikata-san.”

They walked the street fair a little longer, then headed back to headquarters. Olivia was a little disappointed that she never got the courage to hold his hand, but it was fine. Olivia squeezed the plush rabbit a bit tighter. The end of a date was when the couple would usually kiss, right? She’s been on a few dates, but she always had to go in the middle of it for some important political event or situation. She’s received kisses before, but never from an actual potential lover either.

They stopped in front of her door since it was the first one in the row, an awkwardly stayed silent for a moment.

“So… I had fun tonight,” Hijikata mumbled, breaking the silence.

Olivia nodded. “I did too.”

“Well, uh….” He put his hand on her shoulder and passed by. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Her gaze shifted down in disappointment. “Good night, Hijikata-san.” Once she couldn’t hear his footsteps, she sobbed silently and went into her room, shutting the door tightly.

“I guess… it just wasn’t meant to be.”


	12. Chapter 12

“That’s the fifth timed you’ve sighed into your tea, Olivia-san,” Kondo said. “You’re going to make it boil again.”

“Oh… I guess you’re right.” Olivia mumbled and drank her tea in one gulp. “Thank you, Kondo-sensei for the tea.”

“You know; you can just call me Kondo-san. No need for the sensei.”

Olivia nodded. “If that’s okay with you, then I’ll call you Kondo-san from now on.”

Kondo’s brows furrowed and he frowned, analyzing Olivia’s expression and actions. “You’ve been acting strange lately, Olivia-san… How was that date with Toshi?”

She cracked a small smile, but then shrugged. “It was nice.”

“What happened?” Kondo asked, folding his arms across his chest. “No one says they had a good time on a date and then acts like you didn’t have such a good time the days after it.”

She shrugged again. “We went to a wonderful restaurant and he won a plush rabbit for me at this little street fair.”

“But?”

“… But he didn’t really _act_ like we were on a date,” She sighed and looked away. “He didn’t hold my hand. He didn’t even look at me at all while we were walking. There was no kiss at the end of the date… it was like he regretted asking me on a date.”

Kondo sighed, closing his eyes kind of in defeat. “Toshi is popular with the ladies, but he isn’t great when it comes to love. He needs a little… nudge in the right direction.”

Olivia arched an eyebrow and snorted. “That’s coming from someone who stalks Otae?”

“It’s not stalking! It’s love watching!” Kondo exclaimed, then settling back with a sigh. “I’ll talk to Toshi.”

Olivia’s eyes widened and she shook her head quickly. “N-no! No. That won’t be necessary.”

“But-.”

“Last time you talked to him about me, we didn’t talk for a few weeks. I don’t want that to happen again.” Olivia stood up and walked towards the door. “I have training with Captain Okita right now. Thank you for the tea, Kondo-san.”

He watched her leave and turn the wrong way towards the training room. He figured that she didn’t actually have any training to do today. She just wanted get out of talking about Hijikata. Well, Kondo was still going to talk to the Vice-Chief whether she liked it or not. He took out his phone and called Toshi, asking him to come to his room immediately.

“What is it, Kondo-san?” Hijikata asked, stopping at the doorway. “I have things to do.”

“Come in and close the door, Toshi.”

“I have work-.”

“ _Toushirou_ , come in and close the door.”

Hijikata looked at him with surprise, but obeyed and closed the door behind him, sitting down across from his commander. Kondo never called him Toushirou unless it was something serious. Even for important things he called him Toshi.

“Olivia-san has been acting strange lately,” Kondo started which immediately elicited a sigh from Hijikata. “She’s doing her work just fine, but her usual cheery, smiling self isn’t there. So, I brought her in to see if there was anything wrong.” His glare pierced right through to Hijikata’s soul. “I know _exactly_ how your date went.”

“It was fine. We had a good dinner and had a nice walk around the streets,” Hijikata said, pulling out a cigarette and putting it in his mouth, but not lighting it.

“I was informed and yes, it is nice, but dating is more than just that!”

“This is coming from someone who’s stalking Otae?”

“It’s love watching!” Kondo shrieked. He huffed, rubbing his neck and trying to get back on track. “Listen Toshi, you didn’t even look at her while you walked together. No hand holding either and you didn’t even kiss her good night… She thinks that you regret even asking her on that date.”

Hijikata’s gaze met Kondo’s sharply. “That’s not true! I don’t regret it at all!”

“Then _show_ her that you don’t regret it.”

Hijikata stood up and walked out the door. “I have stuff to do, Kondo-san.”

Meanwhile, Olivia was cleaning her bathroom. She had just cleaned it yesterday, but there wasn’t much more to do around headquarters. She could go out on patrol, but she wasn’t in the mood for socializing. Especially with strangers or worse… Odd Jobs. They would have been exactly like Kondo. Asking for specifics about her date. She didn’t want to submit Hijikata to that kind of torture.

“Olivia-san.” Okita’s voice echoed through the door. “I have some paperwork for you to do for me.”

Olivia opened the door and took a few pieces of paper from Sogo without question.

“Bring them to me when you’re done. Thanks.”

Olivia closed the door and sat on the floor, doing this paperwork for Okita, but her thoughts were somewhere else. Kondo probably met with Hijikata right after she had left his office. She shouldn’t tell Kondo things anymore. Hijikata is probably furious that she would share things about their date to Kondo of all people… Well, maybe Captain Okita would have been worse to share it with. Yeah, Captain Okita would have definitely been worse. At least Kondo would try to be helpful. Captain Okita would just mock him every second.

“Alright,” Olivia sighed, organizing the papers into a neat group and stood up. “To Captain Okita’s room.”

Upon opening the door, she saw Kondo standing in the middle of the yard with his arms folded and a slight grin. She arched an eyebrow, but nodded and started towards Okita’s room with her gaze down looking at the papers. She walked slowly, focusing on re-reading her answers only to make sure that they had made sense. They didn’t, but it wasn’t her problem.

“Oi, Olivia-san.”

Her head titled up with a look of surprise. “Oh! Hello, Hijikata-san. How are you-.” Her eyes darted to his hand as he moved to cup her cheek. “Hiji-.”

His lip met hers for a gentle, but passionate kiss. Her eyes fluttered closed and leaned into the kiss. _This was heaven_. Eventually, Hijikata broke it, just moving a few inches away from her face. Her eyes slowly opened and color spread across her face quickly.

“How about we try that date again?” He whispered, letting his hand fall from her cheek, to her neck, shoulder and eventually his side. “Tomorrow at six?”

Olivia nodded, too caught up in emotions to verbally answer.

“Great,” He smiled and passed by.

She put the paperwork up to her face, letting it cover her mouth and part of her blush, and turned around to stare at Hijikata as he walked away. Then, she turned towards Kondo who was giving a thumbs up and a bigger smile than before. Olivia nodded as a thank you and proceeded towards Okita’s room to drop off the paperwork.


	13. Chapter 13

“Okay, okay! Listen up!” Hijikata sat in the front of the room with an unlit cigarette in his mouth while every member of the Shinsengumi sat at attention in front of him. “Tonight is that damn festival and we need every man, er, and woman there in order to protect the Shogun.”

_‘The Shogun…._ ’ Olivia was excited to finally be attending something important with the Shinsengumi. Well, every day was important for the Shinsengumi. Every patrol. Every call. However, she never thought she would actually be protecting the Shogun out in public as a member that’s only been around for a couple of months. This was exciting.

“If he even gets a scratch on him, our heads will roll,” Hijikata continued. “And we have a rumor that someone really dangerous is going to be there tonight. So, we need to keep on guard at all times. No slacking.”

“Someone dangerous?” Okita hummed. “That rumor doesn’t mean you, right?”

Hijikata’s eyes narrowed and he huffed. “No. It’s anti-foreigner rebel. Takasugi Shinsuke.”

Olivia rubbed her chin with a quiet hum. “Takasugi….”

Sogo looked back behind him and arched an eyebrow. “Do you know him, Olivia-san?”

 “I know _of_ him, yes,” She said. “The Akemi merchant ships had some trouble with him some years ago.”

“Well, we need to make sure that Takasugi does not get to the Shogun,” Hijikata said and stood up. “We have some time, so go get ready for tonight.”

The assembly slowly went off to do their own things before the Festival shift tonight. Olivia was excited to have an important duty that night, but she did want to enjoy the festival. It was supposed to be huge and full of human food that she never had before. But, that would have to wait until the next festival. As the assembly walked out, Kondo made his way into the meeting room and took Hijikata, and Olivia aside.

“Why don’t you two go to the Festival now?” Kondo said. “You can have a little _romantic_ time at the festival and meet up with us when the Shogun shows up.”

Olivia pursed her lips in thought. That did sound good but they had a job and shouldn’t be distracted with such things. “Oh, I-I don’t think-.”

“I think that’ll be good.”

Olivia looked up towards Hijikata with surprise. She was sure that he would have scoffed and said no. Hijikata looked down at her, grinned and took her hand in his. This was weird… but nice. Very nice. She smiled back and they took off for the festival grounds.

“Look at Toshi, Sogo,” Kondo sighed, tearing up a bit. “He’s so happy.”

“Yeah, I don’t care,” Sogo replied, examining his blade. “I think I need my sword sharpened.”

 

* * *

 

“This is like, a bigger version of the street fair that we walked through on our first date!” Olivia chirped, oohing and awing at the massive amounts of food and games.

“Well, it technically _is_ a bigger version,” Hijikata laughed. “It’ll be even more crowded then the street fair as well so be careful. Don’t want to lose you in such a crowd.”

Olivia nodded but wasn’t really paying attention as she took a whiff of the air and swooned; covering both her cheeks that were turning red with her hands. “It smells so good too.”

“Want to get some dinner?” He asked, taking her to the first food stand there was. “We left before we even knew what was for dinner at headquarters.”

Olivia nodded and they sat down at the stand, side by side. There were only a few things to order, since it wasn’t the full restaurant but a stand at a festival. Hijikata ordered two of the same for them. Olivia didn’t mind that he was ordering for her. She would just order something that she knew while he usually ordered something that she didn’t recognize. So, it was good to try something new.

“Hijikata-san, may I ask you a question?”

Instead of verbally responding, he nodded as he stuffed his face with his food. Poor thing didn’t have any mayonnaise, but it seemed as though he was dealing with it better than she would have thought.

“Well… you consider the Shinsengumi your family, correct?”

He immediately stopped eating, placed the bowl down and stared into it. It was as if he knew where this question was going.

“Do you… do you have a family? Like, by blood?”

Hijikata shook his head slowly. “You and I are the same in that sense.”

Her gaze shifted to her bowl and hesitantly picked at the food. “I’m sorry.”

He seemed to perk up since he started to shovel food back into his mouth again. “It’s fine. I don’t care anymore.”

Did he really not care? Or was he just numb? Either way, she wouldn’t push it. They sat in silence, a _somewhat_ comfortable silence until Olivia had finished her meal. She insisted on paying even with Hijikata’s protesting. They left the stand and continued walking hand in hand through the festival.

“Hey!” Hijikata’s sudden tone of voice made Olivia jump slightly. He pointed over to another stand; a shooting stand, just like the one at the street fair. “What do you say I teach you how to shoot?”

She clapped her hands together and hopped to stand on one foot excitedly. “Sure!”

“Welcome! Welcome!” The stand’s host greeted them both as they walked over to the stand. “Whatever you shoot, you win! Try your luck!”

Hijikata put a couple of coins on the table, and Olivia took up a gun and bent to one knee just as Hijikata did on their first date.

“Look at the target with one eye,” Hijikata instructed and she followed. “Make sure you look _over_ the barrel with the eye your using to look, not next to the barrel.” He tilted her head slightly to get it closer to the gun. “Aim slightly higher than you want to and then fire at will.”

Olivia took aim, hesitated for a few moments, then shot and hit a small, black, fluffy bunny similar to the one that Hijikata had won her.

“Ay! Nice aiming!” The host yelled, flashing the lights of the stand.

“Oh! Yes!” Olivia jumped up from her spot, giving a little fist pump as she did.

Hijikata put a cigarette in his mouth and nodded in approval. “Good job.”

“Here you go!” The host gave her a new plush rabbit. “Have a great time at the festival!”

Olivia hugged the rabbit tight as they walked away from the stand, but then stopped shortly after. “…Hijikata-san?”

“Oi.” He turned around and was surprised when he was face to face with the black, plush rabbit Olivia had won.

“I… won this for you,” She whispered. “You won the white rabbit for me, so, you have the black one!”

His expression softened. Taking the cigarette from his mouth, he put it back into his pocket, took the plush from her and wrapped his arm around her back, giving her head a light kiss.

“Thank you.” He hummed, then took her hand in his again and urged her forward. “Do you want to get some cotton candy?”

“Some what?” She blinked. “Cotton that’s candy? Isn’t cotton what you make some clothes out of?”

“Heh,” Hijikata chuckled. “I guess you didn’t have cotton candy back on your planet, huh?”

Olivia shook her head. “At least, I don’t think we did. We had festivals and fairs, but I was never allowed to go to them until I was older, and even then, I was too busy most of the time.”

“Well, if you like sweets, you’ll like this.”

They walked up to a cotton candy booth and Hijikata ordered one pink cotton candy. Olivia watched, mesmerized as the man put little sparkling bits into a machine and as he started to whip the stick around the machine, strings of pink formed and attached to it. At the end, the stick had piled up an enormous amount of pink, fluffy string. The man gave the stick to Hijikata who in turn gave the man some coins for it. As they walked away, Hijikata took a bite of the pink fluffy string and passed it on to Olivia.

She sniffed it, then took a piece of with her hand. It was very soft like she imagined a cloud would feel like if one could touch a cloud. Olivia stuffed it into her mouth and was surprised at how fast it melted on her tongue.

“Oh! It’s gone already!” She exclaimed, putting a hand on her burning cheeks. “It’s so sweet too! What is it?”

“It’s stretched out sugar with food coloring,” Hijikata told her, taking another bite and then passing it again for her to take another piece.

“Oh, I very much like it!”

Hijikata put the plush bunny into his pocket, switched to Olivia’s left side and they continued hand in hand. They didn’t make it far until a very familiar voice popped up behind them.

“Oi, oi! Get a room you two!”

Hijikata frowned… well, went back to his normal, angry expression and shook Olivia’s hand away from his before they both turned around to meet the Odd Jobs crew.

“Hi Gin-san! Kagura! Shinpachi!” Olivia greeted with a smile while Hijikata huffed and scowled. “Are you enjoying the festival?”

“We are!” Shinpachi said. “How about you, Olivia-san?”

She nodded with a wider smile. “I am! Well… we are!” She turned slightly to Hijikata who nodded at her but didn’t stray away from his fierce, angry look.

“Oi.” Gin-san slapped his hands on each of their shoulders and brought both of them in, closer to his face. “I hope you’re keeping our little Olivia-san here happy, if ya’ know what I mean.”

“Gintoki-san!” Olivia gasped, bobbing her head away from his.

“That’s not for you to know!” Hijikata growled, slapping Gin’s hand off of him. “Don’t say such things in public!”

Gin’s laugh boomed. “Hey, hey! Calm down there, Vice-Chief!”

Hijikata grumbled something under his breath then looked around to see what was going on in the festival grounds. “It looks like we have to meet up with the others now, Olivia-san.” Hijikata pushed the remaining cotton candy into the hands of Gintoki who was not about to reject it. “Come on.”

Hijikata started off without her. She took another piece of cotton candy and started to follow him, but stopped.

“The Shogun is here tonight,” She told Gin and the others. “The whole Shinsengumi is here to keep an eye on things.” She turned her head to look over her shoulder as she spoke these last few words. “There’s a rumor that an anti-foreigner rebel is here tonight. He’s very dangerous apparently… His name is Takasugi Shinsuke.”

Gintoki stared at her with a blank face; not even reaching for the cotton candy.

“You better be careful, Sakata Gintoki.” She looked forward and continued following the Vice-Chief.

“Hey Olivia-san!” Kondo greeted as she came up to join the Shinsengumi in front of a tower that contained the Shogun. “How was your time at the festival?”

“It was quite fun!” Olivia beamed, going to her place alongside Captain Okita.

“Until Odd Jobs showed up,” Hijikata hissed under his breath, lighting up a cigarette.

“Ah Toshi!” Kondo grinned, patting his Vice-chief on the back. “You shouldn’t let people ruin your fun with your lady!”

“It was time to meet up, so it wasn’t exactly ruined if it was ending anyway.”

Gosh, Hijikata could be such a downer sometimes.

“I’m assuming that the Shogun’s in there already?” Hijikata asked, pointing to the tower with his thumb.

Kondo nodded. “He was here before we arrived. Boss got him set up and left afterward.”

“At least entertainment has started,” Okita said, pointing to the stage. “So, this won’t be such a bore.”

“We’re not supposed to be watching the entertainment!” Hijikata snapped at him. “We’re supposed to be on guard! That’s our job!”

“Calm down Toshi!” Kondo wheezed, holding his hands up defensively. “Olivia-san, what exactly did Odd Jobs do to make Toshi so annoyed?”

Olivia gave a small smile and shook her head. “I think Hijikata-san would be even more annoyed if I told you.”

“Did they want to know about your sex life or lack thereof?” Sogo asked not so innocently.

Hijikata groaned and lightly touched his forehead with his fingertips. “Yamazaki, go get me some takoyaki with extra mayo.”

“Yes, Vice-Chief!” Yamazaki saluted and ran off to fetch the food.

Okita turned to Olivia. “From Hijikata-san’s lack of response, I’m assuming it was about your sex life.”

“We’ve only been dating for a couple of weeks!” Hijikata exploded, biting his cigarette and breaking the filter part. “And why does it matter to any of you?! Why do you even need to know?! You don’t!”

“Hijikata-san,” Olivia said calmly. “Don’t let him get to you.”

He grumbled something inaudible and turned away from the group, waiting for his takoyaki. Olivia sighed. Why did Captain Okita do this to him? It just made Hijikata unbearable. He wouldn’t talk to anyone, and when he did, there was either frustration, annoyance, or both in his voice. Well, to the other members of the Shinsengumi anyway. With her, he actually tried to at least somewhat calm down his anger. He wasn’t always successful, but it’s the thought that counts. He never actually yelled at her when he wasn’t able to calm himself down. Usually, when he wasn’t able to accomplish it, he would excuse himself and then come back to her later when he was feeling a bit better.

“I’m going to go take a shit,” Okita said.

“Uh….” Olivia’s face fell into a disgusted expression. “Alright… have fun.”

“If anything happens, you’re in charge of the first division.”

“… I thought that went to Hijikata-san?”

Okita rolled his eyes and walked away. “Whatever, I don’t care. I’ll be back.”

“It does go to Toshi,” Kondo said after Sogo left. “But you should be honored that Sogo trusts you enough to let you take charge of the first division if anything had happened to him.”

“I suppose so.” She did feel at least a little bit proud, but she couldn’t help but wonder why Captain Okita hated Hijikata so much. She thought that they thought of each other as family…. Then she remembered her first dinner outing with Odd Jobs. They were arguing over things then and they still considered themselves family. It was strange to her, but if they still loved each other like brothers by the end of the day, why did it matter if they spat at each other a few times?

“Why is there only three left in the box?” Hijikata snarled.

“I’m sorry! I tripped on my way since I was rushing!” Yamazaki explained.

“Is that why there are crumbs all over your face?”

_‘Oh boy,’_ Olivia rolled her eyes and went back to looking out into the crowd to see if anyone looked suspicious. There wasn’t anything that she could see that was suspicious, but then an odd, bad feeling crept up her spine.

“Kondo-san, Hijikata-san,” She mumbled, poking at Kondo to get his attention. “Something’s off… something _stinks_.”

“What?” Kondo and Hijikata blinked.

“Did you see anything?” Kondo asked, taking the last bite of Hijikata’s takoyaki.

Olivia shook her head. “No… but something… feels off about this whole thing.”

An explosion made them all look up into the skies. The fireworks were starting and they were beautiful. But Olivia couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. There was another explosion, but it wasn’t a firework. It was closer to the ground making her ears ring. The crowd screamed and started for the exits. Smoke covered the area quickly and she was only able to see Kondo, Hijikata, and Yamazaki.

“ _Dammit_.”

Wings appeared and Olivia swept the smoke away from the area with them. As she did, big, clanking robots were heading towards the Shinsengumi.

“Secure the area around the tower!” Hijikata yelled the command at the surrounding members.

“ _From the skies above, to the ground below. Heaven’s vigor_!” A huge blue sphere appeared over a small group of the robots and dropped; soaking them. Eventually they short circuit and fall to the ground.

Kondo unsheathed his sword and charged into the robots. “Men! Charge!”

“Kondo-san….” Olivia sighed and shook her head and she watched Kondo’s sword immediately break after coming into contact with one of the robots.

Behind her came crash like someone smashing themselves into a stand. Olivia looked back and once the dust clear from the zone, out came the one that they had been keeping watch for. _Takasugi_. He looked at Olivia, grinned and booked it and she rushed right after him, sword at the ready and wings gone from her back. He knocked a couple of boxes in her path, but she easily cut them from her path. He eventually whipped himself around and slashed at her arm, leaving a deep gash.

She retaliated by giving him a gash on his cheek with the good eye.

“I never thought I’d actually _see_ the last Akemi in person,” He grinned, sheathing his sword. “But unfortunately, I don’t have time to stay and chat. I must be going.”

Olivia swung her sword again, but he pushed a plank of wood in the way and started towards the crowd. Olivia sheathed her own sword and followed him. The crowd got thicker as she followed him, having to push people out of the way and screaming ‘Shinsengumi! Out of the way!’, but that didn’t seem to have any effect on the already in a panic crowd. Eventually, she lost sight of him and stopped, cursing at herself for letting him get away like that. The panicking crowd pushed and shoved her in order to get out of the festival as she made her way back to the rest of the Shinsengumi.

“Geez, you got them all without me,” Olivia commented as she looked out over the field of destroyed robots.

“Olivia-san!” Kondo blurted. “I didn’t even realize that you were gone!”

“Where did you go?” Hijikata asked, lighting up a fresh cigarette.

“I had to take care of something.”

Hijikata frowned and lifted the ripped fabric away from the gash on her arm. “That something was obviously not this new gash of yours.”

“…I had a little run in with Takasugi.”

Hijikata let the fabric fall. “Takasugi?”

“I gave him a cut right back on his cheek.” Olivia said, face twisted into a disappointed frown. She then turned and bowed to Hijikata. “I lost him in the crowd. I’m sorry Vice-Chief.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Well,” Kondo sighed, sheathing whatever was left of his blade. “The Shogun has already left. I guess it’s time for us to get back to headquarters. We’ll deal with clean up and reports tomorrow.”

“There’s no one here to give reports _anyway_.” Hijikata puffed on his cigarette and proceeded to round up the Shinsengumi.

They all walked in an orderly fashion. Some of them were dragging themselves from exhaustion. Others were hobbling along from injuries sustained from the robots. However, the three top members, Hijikata, Kondo, and Okita were still walking with such pride. They didn’t even show the slightest bit of weakness. Hijikata and Okita walked side by side while Kondo led the procession. Olivia’s chest started to fill up with such happiness; she was proud to be a member of the Shinsengumi.

Hijikata’s hand stopped Olivia’s from opening her bedroom door. “Let me clean that wound,” he said, motioning towards his bedroom. “I have fresh bandages and peroxide in my room.”

Olivia nodded with a sweet smile and followed Hijikata to his room. He closed the door after her, making sure to take both their boots off outside and told her to sit on his mat with both her jacket and shirt off- only if she felt comfortable with it. She obeyed, not feeling ashamed to expose herself for someone to treat an injury. Hijikata gathered the peroxide, a towel and the fresh bandages and sat down across from her.

Hijikata poured some of the peroxide on the towel and cleaned the cut, lightly tracing her tattoo with the towel after the cleaning. “What do the roses mean?”

“…They mean I’m of, uh… noble stature,” She murmured. “Obviously not anymore.”

Hijikata hummed in thought as he finished up cleaning and wrapped the wound with the fresh bandages.

“Thank you, Hijikata-san.” Olivia bowed her head and was about to get up before Hijikata placed his hand on her hip in order to keep her down on the floor with him.

“Olivia-san…,” Hijikata breathed, drawing her face closer to his with his other hand on her cheek. “I’m sorry for being so caught up in my work that it doesn’t seem like I care about you or… this relationship.”

Olivia giggled and touched his hand that was on her cheek lightly with her fingertips. “Your work is important to you. There’s nothing to be sorry about, Hijikata-san.”

“Toshi.”

Olivia’s head tilted. “Hm?”

“…You can call me Toshi,” He repeated, grabbing both her hips and lifting her on to his lap. He brushed his lips against hers and left a trail of kisses down her jaw to her neck. “Or Toushirou if you so choose.” He nicked her neck and nibbled on the small wound which elicited a shaky moan from Olivia.

“Toshi….” She whispered, pulling her neck away from him and gazing to the floor.

“Hm? Did that hurt?”

She shook her head. “N-no….”

Hijikata pushed a stray strand of hair out of her face, then lifted her chin to meet his gaze. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

“It’s not that,” She bit her lip and rubbed her wrists together nervously. “It’s just… I… I’ve never….”

Hijikata smirked, putting his thumb lightly over her lips to stop her. “I figured as much.”

“I… I’m also kind of… shy about my body,” She whimpered, her gaze settling back down to the floor.

Hijikata arched an eyebrow. “What? Why?”

“It’s nothing like being unfit or overweight because I know I’m not,” Her eyes darted back up to meet his just for a second. “It’s just… well, this is going to sound silly, but my… chest is… small.”

Hijikata cracked a smile with a slight snicker. The hand that was still on her waist wandered from its spot up to her chest, making itself comfortable; delicately grabbing her breast.

“They fit perfectly in my hand. They’re perfect for _me_ ,” He hummed as he thumbed at the fabric that was keeping his hand from the soft flesh of her breast. “I’ll be gentle and slow. Promise.” His mouth went back to her neck and he started to mouth another area giving her another little nick. “If I do something that you don’t like, you can always tell me to stop and I will.”

Olivia nodded and tilted her head so he had easier access to her neck. His hands slipped behind her back, unhooked her bra, and she let it slide down her arms into her lap and tossed it to the side. Her arms wrapped around his neck, and let out a whisper of a moan as Hijikata’s lip meandered down towards her nipple. He alternated between nipping and sucking on one while one hand massaged her other breast.

“T-Toshi…. haah….” Her body shook out of pleasure.

Toushirou abruptly stopped and took off the top half of his own uniform. She stared at his chiseled chest and abs, and involuntarily started to trace his battle scars that were always hidden underneath his clothes. Hijikata fixed their position on the mat and gently laid her on to her back with himself towering over her. His hand reached down and unbuttoned her pants making an uncontrollable squeak come from her throat. He pushed her pants down and pulled them off, taking her panties with them.

“You’ll get to experience how sinful the demon Vice-Commander really is,” He purred in her ear then proceeded to nibble at it sending chills down her spine. He kissed her lips then trailed kisses down her neck, and chest, making sure to stop at both nipples and then continued his descent to her mound. Once there, he gave her a long lick that earned him a sharp gasp and a shudder.  

“I want Kondo and Sogo to hear everything I do to you,” Hijikata said, biting at her inner thigh. “Be as loud as you want.”

His tongue met her mound once more and worked to make her moan his name over and over. She squirmed under him. He took hold of her hips and pushed them down to the mat to keep her in place.

“T-Toshi! Ahhaa!” Olivia screamed, arching her back and sinking her fingers into his hair.

Hijikata stopped, licked his pointer and middle fingers, and slowly pushed them into her so she could get accustomed to the feeling. Olivia groaned at the feeling and adjusted herself, then he started to pump his fingers as his tongue went back to work with her clit. She was starting to sweat. Her throat was scratchy from her screaming, but she couldn’t stop from the pleasure that he gave her. She got quiet for a moment then her back arched, head pressed firmly against the pillow, and finally she screamed his name and shook from the climax. Climbing down from the orgasm, she unhooked her fingers from his hair.

Hijikata took his fingers out and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He stood up, quickly took off his pants and grabbed a condom from one of his dresser drawers. He came back and settled himself in between her legs just as last time and loomed over his panting lover.

“Are you ready for the main event?” He asked, bending down to kiss her forehead.

“… Will… will it hurt?” She mumbled, still gasping for air.

“Only at first,” He said, ripping the condom wrapper open and positioning the condom on his length. “I’ll let you get used to me first, then you can tell me when to start, okay?”

Olivia nodded and readied herself. Hijikata hovered his tip over her entrance and slowly pushed himself in.

“Ngh,” Olivia wheezed, grabbing his wrist and squeezing.

Toushirou immediately stopped and looked up. “Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah. It just feels… odd.”

“Can I keep going?”

Olivia nodded.

He continued until he was fully in. He shakily breathed out and situated himself over her. He could feel her pulsating around him; trying to get used to his member. She leaned up and kissed him on the lips, whispering a ‘go ahead’ beforehand. Their lips did not part as Toushirou thrust slowly in and out of her. She whimpered for a minute or two but those whimpers soon turned into moans then into gasps. Their lips parted and his found themselves at her neck again; nipping and sucking at it, marking her as his.

He started to pick up speed. She didn’t complain. Hijikata grunted as he felt her pulsate around his cock some more. He was close, but she was closer. She was sensitive from her last orgasm and the sucking of her womanhood on his member made that clear.

His grip tightened around her and he released all the air he had been holding in as he unloaded his seed. As he slowed in pace, Olivia’s climax picked up.

“Toushirou….” She moaned one last time before falling back on to the mat in pants and sweats, and with her body shaking at the sheer enjoyment.

Toshi, himself, fell on to his elbows and tried to steady his breathing. He looked up, setting his gaze on Olivia’s face and smirked. “Did you enjoy yourself?”

Olivia nodded slightly. “I didn’t realize that the demonic Vice-Chief was that sinful.”

Hijikata laughed at her words then pulled himself out. He took the condom off, threw it away in his trashcan and laid down next to Olivia, taking her in his arms and she placed her head on his chest. He reached into his jacket and out came a cigarette and a lighter.

“Mmm,” Olivia nuzzled into his chest with a sigh; loving the sound of his heart beat. “Can I stay in here for tonight?”

“I wasn’t about to kick you out after that,” He said, puffing on his cigarette and stroking her hair. “I’ll warn you now though. Kondo and or Sogo might barge in tomorrow morning.”

“Mmm, that’s alright. I can be assured that you’ll deal with it if I’m still here.”

Hijikata chuckled and pulled the blanket up around her. “You can be sure of that, yes.”


	14. Chapter 14

“Toshi! Toshi!”

With his hands behind his head and Olivia calmly sleeping on his chest, Hijikata sighed out of frustration. If Kondo didn’t knock it off soon, Olivia would wake up from her slumber. Kondo’s knocking on the door eventually turning into banging. Olivia stirred a bit, but didn’t seem to wake up. The banging ceased for a moment then the door flung open.

“Toshi, we- huh?”

They stared at each other in silence for a while. Kondo’s gaze shifted from Hijikata, to Olivia, back to Hijikata a couple of times before it clicked as to why they had been in the same room… naked.

“Get out-.”

“Yep.” Kondo closed the door and rushed away from Hijikata’s room.

“Mmm, I knew you would deal with it.”

Hijikata sighed, running his fingers through Olivia’s hair. “I was worried that you would wake up from Kondo’s yelling and banging.”

Olivia yawned and stretched her free arm up to the ceiling. “It’s okay. I have patrol this morning anyway.” She sat up and shook her hair free of tangles that had developed throughout the night. Looking around she identified where all her clothes had been thrown and eventually stood up and put them on.

Arms swiftly wrapped around her waist and pulled her in tight. “I hope Sogo doesn’t tease you too much about last night and if he does, just say the word and I’ll deal with him. 

Olivia turned around in his arms and planted a kiss on his lips. “I can deal with Captain Okita’s teasing.”

He let her go and she was out the door, making sure to close it tightly before walking back to her room, taking her sword and boots with her. She walked as if nothing had happened, but everyone that she past seemed to already know what had happened between her and the Vice-Chief. It wasn’t a surprise. She was as loud as a cat in heat. There wasn’t any judgement in their eyes to her relief. She leapt into her room, closed both doors and got ready for the day; making sure to get every inch of body spotless. She put on a fresh uniform, attached her sword and walked to the dining area for breakfast.

“Morning, Olivia-san!” Kondo greeted with a wave and a smile like every day. “How are you?”

Olivia smiled back and took a seat across from him and Okita who was too busy stuffing his face to say anything right then. “I’m feeling great this morning. Thank you for asking.” Yamazaki placed a bowl in front of her, and she began to eat.

Okita gulped down the food in his mouth and spoke, “I wonder why.”

“Hey, hey,” Hijikata grumbled as he walked into the dining area.

“Toshi!” Kondo beamed and pulled Hijikata down to sit right next to him. “How are you doing this morning, Toshi?”

“Uh, good.” Hijikata shook off Kondo’s hand and started shoveling the food down his throat that Yamazaki had put in front of him.

“Hungry aren’t you, Hijikata-san?” Okita commented, looking him dead in the eye.

“…Yeah, I’m usually hungry in the morning,” Hijikata clapped back at him.

“Hm, but you’re hungrier than _usual_.”

“Sogo, please,” Kondo mumbled. He wrapped his arm around Hijikata’s shoulders and whispered not so quietly in his ear, “Hey Toshi, you used protection last night, right?”

Olivia accidently inhaled at the same time as she had taken a bite of her breakfast and started to hack. Her face turned red. Her eyes seemed to bulge out of her head and her nails dug into the table. They all stared at her as she coughed until finally the coughing was replaced with just wild panting.

“S-s-sorry,” She wheezed. “I-I think I accidently… inhaled a noodle.”

“You know, I’m just looking out for you two as your Commander,” Kondo said, going back to the topic before her choking.

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” Hijikata sneered, finishing his breakfast even before Okita.

“Hijikata-san, the whole Shinsengumi heard you and Olivia-san last night. Well, Olivia-san mostly,” Sogo said. “You two had sex and there’s nothing to be ashamed of, unless Olivia tells us you’re bad at it and that you threatened her so that she would scream like that.”

“Oh dear,” Olivia gulped, rubbing the back of her neck.

“You guys don’t need to know about anything that goes on between us especially when it comes to our sex life,” Hijikata snorted. “… But to answer your question, yeah I used protection. I know what I’m doing, Kondo-san. I’m not inexperienced in such matters.”

“Okay! This was a good talk!” Olivia coughed and got up from her spot, smoothing down her uniform. “But I have patrol-.”

“Let’s all go!” Kondo exclaimed, jumping up from his seat.

“What?”

“Yeah! You, me, Toshi and Sogo! Let’s all go on patrol together like a family!”

“Kondo-san, someone needs to be here to take reports and calls,” Okita reminded him.

Kondo waved his hand at Sogo and lifted both of them to their feet against their will. “Yamazaki and the others will be here to do that. Come on! When was the last time we all bonded?”

“Last night at the festival,” Hijikata huffed.

“I think the only people who bonded were you and Olivia, Hijikata-san,” Sogo mocked.

“Come on! Let’s go!” Kondo took them all into one group hug and proceeded to shove them out the door and out of headquarters.

They all walked in silence down the streets of Edo. Hijikata with a cigarette in his mouth and hands in his pockets. Okita with one hand in his pocket and the other hand resting on the handle of his sword. Olivia with arms folded over her chest and Kondo with a bright smile on his face, walked with arms at his sides. He was the only one that was happy about this bonding time that was actually not happening.

“Olivia-san,” Kondo finally broke the silence and pointed at her sword. “I noticed that you are still using the sword that we gave you on your first day. Wouldn’t you like a sword to call your own?”

Olivia hummed and looked down at her hip. “Well, I’ve never actually bought my own sword before so I don’t really know what to look for. I figured that the Shinsengumi’s loan was better than anything that I could pick out on my own.”

“Well, you have the three highest ranking officers of the Shinsengumi with you!” Kondo chirped, taking ahold of Hijikata and Okita once more. “We can all help you pick one out!”

Olivia pursed her lips and shifted her gaze towards the ground. “Well… if you all don’t mind….”

“Of course we don’t!” Kondo started to push everyone again in another direction then the one that they were going. “I’ll take you to our blacksmith’s shop! He should have some good swords for you!”

“Kondo-san, you don’t need to push us,” Okita said. “We might not want to be on patrol right now, but we’ll still follow you anywhere you want us to go.”

Kondo kept pushing them all the same. Hijikata, still with an annoyed expression on his face with a new cigarette in his mouth, folded his arms across his chest and gave a huff. Oliva smiled and covered her mouth with a hand to prevent giggles from escaping. He was cute when he got all huffy like this. Hijikata’s eyes darted to catch Olivia looking and his cheeks grew a pink tint to them.

“Here we go!” Kondo gave one last push into a blacksmith’s shop and Olivia’s mouth dropped as she stared at all the beautiful swords on the walls.

“Oh! Kondo-san! I didn’t know you were stopping by today!” The blacksmith greeted coming from the back of the shop. “Need your sword fixed again?”

“Uh, y-yeah,” Kondo gave a weak chuckle and scratched the back of his head. “Actually it _does_ need a bit of repair but I didn’t bring it with me today.” He gave Olivia a big ol’ slap on the back, making her trip forward a bit. “Our new recruit is looking for her first sword!”

“Ah, so you’re the amanto that the Shinsengumi employed,” The blacksmith hummed, looking her up and down. “A bit short this one is, eh Kondo-san?”

Olivia frowned. “What?”

Kondo quickly barged in with his booming laugh. “Samurais come in all sizes!”

“Yeah, she’s a real pint sized power ball,” Okita said which made Olivia glare at her captain.

“Well, I’ve got all sorts of swords as you can see,” The blacksmith said, motioning to the walls. “Try a couple out and if you find one you like; I’ll take it in the back to sharpen it once we’re done discussing the price.”

Olivia nodded and they all proceeded to look at different swords on the walls. The blades were glistening with what little sun that was entering the shop windows. Okita was the first one to hand her a sword to try. She unsheathed the sword and her fingers immediately started to ache. She shook her head with a frown and gave it back to Okita. Kondo came next and handed her a sword. When she unsheathed it, she almost hit him over the head with the sheath. The sheath was a full size sheath, but the sword itself was short, almost like a short sword. She handed the sword back to him and grumbled under her breath. Hijikata finally came and handed her his sword of recommendation. She didn’t find anything wrong with it except for the fact that it was the same as Hijikata’s. She didn’t want the same. She wanted one unique to her.

She roamed around the store for a while, getting bored looking at the same swords over and over. Then, she spotted something high up on the wall that she began her search on. She stared at it in awe for a moment. It was a black steel with a blue ribbon wrapped handle. The blade was perfectly curved and its sheath was sleek black with a little blue design near the entrance. But it was too high for her to reach.

“…Hijikata-san?” She tugged on his hand to get his attention. “I, uh… need you to reach a sword for me… please.”

Instead of teasing her about her size, Hijikata simply nodded and followed her to the wall. She pointed to the specific sword that had caught her eye. He took both the sword and the sheath down and gave it to her to examine more thoroughly.

“Oh, looks like the pint sized power ball found a sword.”

Deep blue hues turned to ice and Olivia whipped around, pressing the sword up to Okita’s throat.

“You want to say that again?” She asked with a malicious grin.

“Hijikata-san is really rubbing off on you,” Okita said.

Olivia sheathed the blade and strode past him to the blacksmith. “I do not like being mocked for how short I am. I realize that I am short, but I can do nothing about it.”

“Find one you like?” The blacksmith asked, going behind his counter.

Olivia put the sheathed sword on the counter with a smile. “Yes, I have!”

The blacksmith took the sword and unsheathed it slightly, then started to chuckle and put it back on the counter. “Leave it to a woman to find and like the most expensive thing in the store.”

Olivia sighed and her gaze shifted to the side, but in one swift movement, the sword on the counter was unsheathed and the tip pointing at the blacksmith’s throat.

“Hm,” Hijikata mumbled, examining the sword. “It’s a nicely made sword.” Hijikata sheathed it, put it back on the counter and puffed on his cigarette. “Finding quality has nothing to do with being a woman.”

“Y-yes! Yes! I-I’m sorry!” The blacksmith bowed and rang the sword up.

Olivia paid for the sword, in full, which the blacksmith was surprised since Kondo had to pay for his with a loan. Then, he took it in the back to sharpen it and came back out within a few minutes. Olivia thanked the blacksmith for a lovely sword and finally, they all stepped out of the dark shop.

“It seems like you two are the real sadists here,” Okita sneered. “Threatening people just for a few teasing comments.”

“You shouldn’t tease your subordinate like that, Sogo. You know better,” Kondo chided him.

Olivia shrugged with a slight shake to her head. “Don’t make fun of my height and everything will be just peachy.”

There was a sudden scream which made them all turn towards it, but it wasn’t a scream of terror… at least not what they could see. Coming at them was a screaming tall man with… wings? His arms flew open and he gave Olivia a bear hug, spinning her around as he did. Behind him were two others with wings who were not as excited as the other man was to see Olivia.

“I thought we were the last ones! But when I heard that there was an Akemi here in Edo, I just had to find you!” The man beamed, squeezing Olivia tighter.

“Y-you’re really… squeezing tight,” Olivia wheezed, wiggling in his arms. “C-could you s-s-stop spinning? I feel like I-I’m going to be s-s-sick!”

“Oh! I’m so sorry!” The man stopped and put Olivia down on the ground which she then proceeded to keel over; hands on her knees and panting heavily. “I was just so excited to find another Akemi!”

“Another?” Hijikata asked, arching an eyebrow, giving both Kondo and Okita a look of suspicion.

“Yeah!” The man motioned to the two behind him. “We’re part of the Akemi tribe! We were on a merchant ship setting out when the shapeshifters attacked.” He sighed. “What a terrible day that was.” 

Olivia shook off the sick feeling and stood up straight, turning around to get a good look at them. “On a merchant ship, huh?”

“Yeah, we set off just before we realized that the planet was being attacked and we couldn’t turn the ship around quick enough to help fight.”

Olivia cocked her head slightly and nodded. “Huh… I see.”

“But, we’re so glad we found another!” The man picked up his beaming voice again. “What’s your name?”

Olivia’s eyes widened for a second, then her expression softened. “Layna.”

“Huh?” Kondo, Hijikata and Okita looked to Olivia in confusion, but said nothing more.

“Layna, what a beautiful name. My name is Butch.” He motioned to the lady behind him. “That’s Kat-,” He motioned to the other man. “And that’s Naoh.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Olivia bowed.

“Would you like to go get lunch with us, Layna-san?” Kat asked.

Olivia shook her head with a small smile. “I’m sorry, but I’m on patrol right now.”

Butch looked to Hijikata and the others, and smiled weakly. The ones behind him seemed to get nervous quickly as they also noticed the policemen with her. “Oh! You’re a part of the Shinsengumi! How lovely.”

“Maybe we’ll catch up some other time then!” Naoh pipped up, backing away from them quickly. “Come on Kat, Butch. Let’s leave the police to their work!”

Butch hesitated but nodded. “Alright.”

As they backed off, they waved goodbye and Olivia returned the wave with a bright smile. But once they couldn’t be seen, her hand dropped to her side and her expression got serious.

“Olivia-san, what did you lie about your name to your people?” Kondo asked once he saw her facial expression change.

“Because they are not of the Akemi tribe.”

Kondo looked to the others then took a few steps towards Olivia who was still staring down the street. “What do you mean? How could you tell?”

_‘Because they didn’t know my name,_ ’ She thought, but couldn’t actually say that. “First, the man that hugged me. He was way too strong to be an Akemi. Most likely, he’s a Yato who can’t control his own strength yet,” She explained. “The other two… I don’t know if they were amanto or humans, but the second thing that gave them all away was the wings. Akemi only have our wings open when we’re flying or casting a spell. Besides, those were feathered wings. Different from what I have. Third, they all backed away quite quickly when they noticed that you policemen were here with me. That, in itself, is suspicious. Final thing that was wrong was they didn’t have blue eyes.”

“Blue eyes?” Okita questioned. “All Akemi have blue eyes?”

Olivia nodded. “We all do.”

“Well, we could find and arrest them for assaulting an officer,” Hijikata said. “And then when we take them in for questioning, we can make them spill everything.”

Olivia shook her head. “I have a better idea.” She turned away from where she was looking at started to walk down the street.

“Where are you going?” Toshi asked as they all followed her down the streets.

“Odd Jobs.”

“Tch,” Hijikata grumbled, lighting a new cigarette. “Why do we need them for this?”

“They’re the best people for this job.” As they came up to the Odd Jobs stairs, Olivia turned around with a grin. “Besides, the Shinsengumi have other things to worry about besides three people who are trying to pass as Akemi with no known motives.”

They climbed the stairs and knocked on the door to Odd Jobs. There was no answer. Olivia pursed her lips out of annoyance and knocked again. There was still no answer.

“Gin-san, I know you’re home,” She hissed, banging on the door.

“Oh, come in Olivia-san!” Gin’s voice echoed through the door.

“What do you think they were trying to hide from?” Kondo asked as they took off their boots in the shoe area.

“The rent is probably due so, Otose,” Olivia replied and they all headed into the living room.

“Oh great,” Kagura grimaced, specifically at Okita. “You brought that sadistic bastard.”

Shinpachi’s eye twitched. “Kagura-chan. Can you not?"

“Oi, what can I do for you all?” Gin asked, putting his feet up on his desk.

“Do you have a paper and pencil?”

Gin cocked an eyebrow, but took out a sheet of paper and pencil and put it in front of her. Olivia went to work; drawing, erasing, and making thoughtful sounds. She couldn’t just describe those people. She would sound like a lunatic. ‘Can you follow a big, muscle-y guy with fake wings?’ No. And, they weren’t even real wings. What would happen if they took the wings off? Anyone could be described as a big, muscle-y guy. If she knew Odd Jobs, they would end up following around Kondo.

Gin-san leaned forward and pushed back her hair. “What happened to your neck?”

Olivia froze for a second then went back to work. “Training accident.”

Gin grinned devilishly and sat back in his chair, winking at Hijikata who scoffed and looked away. “Or better word for them; love marks.”

“Who hurt Olivia-san?!” Kagura jumped from her spot on the couch and cracked her knuckles. “Tell me! I’ll make sure they don’t see the light of day again!”

“Kagura-chan, Kagura-chan, relax,” Gin-san waved his hand at her as to get her to settle down. “You’re still too young to understand.”

“Yeah, China,” Okita said. “You would never understand why Hijikata-san hurt Olivia-san.”

“I did no such thing!” Hijikata barked, slapping the back of Sogo’s head.

Olivia’s face went red but she was finally done with whatever she was doing. She put the pencil down and showed the drawing of the three ‘Akemis’ to Gin.

“I want you to find and follow these people around for a few days.”

“Geez!” Gin snatched the drawing away from her and examined it closely. “This is so detailed! You drew this in just a couple of minutes!”

“Gin-san, please keep focus,” Olivia sighed, rubbing her temples with two fingers.

Gin-san looked again at the picture then back at Olivia. “Are these guys Akemis?”

“They say they are, but I know for a fact that they aren’t,” Olivia replied. “I need you to find out anything you can about them.” She dug into her pocket and threw a bag on the desk. “You get the other half when I come back for the info that you’ve gathered. That bag should be good for at least your rent.”

Gintoki put down the sheet and leaned his head into his hands. “Odd Jobs has you covered, Olivia-san.”

“Thank you, Gin-san,” She bowed and started towards her boots.

“Hijikata-san~,” Gintoki sang. “I have a question.”

Hijikata grumbled inaudibility at him.

Gintoki gave that devilish grin again and asked, “How loud did she scream your name?”

Hijikata unsheathed his sword practically cut his desk in half. “I’m going to kill you perm head!”

“Oh, it was pretty loud,” Kondo interrupted. “The whole headquarters could hear it from Toshi’s room.”

“Kondo-san! It’s none of his business or anyone’s!” Hijikata snapped, swinging his sword

Olivia turned and hurried out the door not wanting to be in the vicinity of Hijikata’s rage. “I’ll be back in a week or two, Gintoki-san!”


	15. Chapter 15

It was a quiet evening at the headquarters. Okita, Hijikata and Kondo were getting ready for a meeting with Matsudaira, the Police Superintendent. Olivia had finished her rounds of calls and reports, and was now sipping on some tea in the dining room alone. She was planning to take a nice hot shower after and going to sleep early so she could get a good workout in the morning.

But things didn’t always go as planned.

“Hey.”

“Hm?” Olivia turned her head to meet Hijikata’s gaze.

“Pops wants to meet you,” He said, motioning for her to join them.

Olivia sighed, but got up and left to join the others; leaving her tea to be cleaned up by someone else. She was looking forward to getting a good night’s sleep as well. It would just have to wait though. They couldn’t keep Matsudaira waiting for long. Hijikata, Kondo, Okita and Olivia hopped into a stretch limo, which didn’t contain Matsudaira to Olivia’s surprise, and it drove them to a restaurant ship that was docked for dinner. 

“Matsudaira-sama is waiting for you,” The waiter told them, leading them to the private dining room.

“Olivia-san,” Kondo whispered as they all took off their boots. “Just stand in the back and keep silent until he speaks to you.”

Olivia nodded and went straight to the back of the room as they all piled in and the three men sat at the table grill across from Matsudaira.

“Good evening gentlemen,” Matsudaira said, blowing smoke their way. He lowered his sunglasses and stared at Olivia in the back. “And… woman.”

“Good evening, Matsudaira-sama,” They all bowed their heads in respect.

“Kondo,” Matsudaira motioned his head towards Olivia. “Is this the new amanto recruit?”

“Yes Pops! She is!” Kondo grinned, looking over his shoulder at her. “Olivia-san here is under the command of Sogo! She’s been doing a great job!”

Okita nodded in agreement. “I’ve been highly impressed by her skills on the field.”

“Uh-huh,” Matsudaira blew some more smoke from his mouth. “Olivia is your name, correct?”

“Yes, sir,” She replied. “Olivia Achi.”

“Mmm, Akemi tribe?”

She nodded again. “Yes, sir.”

He proceeded to look her up and down, examining her thoroughly and then said, “You’re a bit short. Isn’t that sword too long for you?”

Hijikata, Kondo and Okita shared a look of concern and then turned to Olivia who did not look pleased in the slightest.

“Or maybe _you’re_ just a bit too tall,” She snapped back.

Matsudaira’s mouth twitched and then, he let out a big, bellowing laugh that echoed throughout the lower floor of the restaurant. “Oh, I like you, Olivia! You’ll do just fine and no need to call me Matsudaira-sama or even boss. Pops will do just fine.”

The three high ranking Shinsengumi sighed in relief. That could have led to an all-out war.

“Now,” Matsudaira took a small fork and pulled apart the omelet that was sizzling on the tabletop grill. “Let’s get to why I brought you all here.” It took a moment for him to chew, swallow and then light another cigarette, but eventually he continued. “He’s finally decided to make a move.”

_‘Who?’_ Olivia asked herself. _‘Takasugi?’_

“We had a spy planted in his vicinity,” Pops continued. “Unfortunately he discovered the spy, but he decided that it was time to make a move. I don’t want to be a step behind him anymore. I’m going to crush him and all his plans.”

Kondo nodded. “If you’re that committed than we are all just as committed.”

“Heh,” Pops took another puff of his cigarette and then stood up. “I would like for all four of you to help me with this. Take the day off tomorrow and meet me at the amusement park in casual clothes. We can’t stand out.” As he walked out, they all bowed to his back, but as he was putting his shoes on, he spoke again. “You can have the rest of the dinner. It’s on me."

They all watched him and his guards walk off before Kondo spoke, “… I just want to check something with all of you,” He looked over his shoulder and frowned. “Who is ‘he’?”

“You mean; you don’t know?!” Hijikata shouted.

Kondo shook his head.

“Sorry, Kondo-san but I don’t know who ‘he’ is either,” Okita replied, chowing down into the still sizzling omelet.

Olivia shrugged. “Beats me. Maybe Takasugi?”

Kondo shook his head. “He would have warned us before this whole meeting if it was about Takasugi.”

“Katsura?” Hijikata said, helping Okita with the omelet.

Again, Kondo shook his head. “No. Again, he would have notified us if it was Katsura.” Kondo sighed and took a bite of the omelet. “Olivia-san, do you want any?”

Olivia yawned, stretched and then shook her head. “I’m good, thank you.”

“You seem a little tired today,” Okita commented. “Is Hijikata-san keeping you up _that_ late every night?”

Hijikata choked on his piece of the omelet. Olivia’s face turned bright red, and she looked away.

“N-no… that’s not… exactly it….”

“But it’s part of the reason. I got it.”

Hijikata smacked the back of Okita’s head and scowled. “If you don’t stop with that, I’m going to make sure that you stay asleep permanently!”

“Toshi, Sogo, relax,” Kondo said, taking the last bite of omelet. “I’m sure there’s more to it than just sex.”

Olivia nodded. “I’ve been getting up early to work out every morning. Training with you guys is a good workout but it doesn’t challenge every part of my body.”

“You know what does?” Okita pointed to Hijikata. “Hijikata-san.”

“Sogo!” Hijikata fumed, breaking his cigarette in half. 

* * *

 

 “Where is Pops?” Kondo questioned, looking around the entrance to the amusement park.

“He’s got to be around here somewhere,” Hijikata said, puffing on his cigarette. “He said to meet him here. It wouldn’t be him to be late to his own meeting place.”

“Oi!”

They all turned to see Pops waving them down behind some hedges. They joined him behind the hedges and stared out over the entrance. With Pops, was a huge duffle bag that looked like it was stuffed to the brim. Kondo had said not to bring their swords so was Pops providing their weapons? Possibly. What else would they use to fight an anti-foreigner faction?

“He’s not here yet,” Pops said, puffing on a cigarette. “Figures he’d be late.”

“Exactly who are we waiting for?” Kondo asked.

Matsudaira waved his hand as to shush him. “You’ll see.”

“We all took off of work today for this,” Hijikata said. “We left Yamazaki in charge of everything. The least you could do it tell us who we’re looking for.”

“The vilest men on earth,” Pops mumbled, looking back out to the entrance. “How could he keep us waiting like this?”

Olivia sighed, folded her arms over her chest and bent one leg. “Why do you need me for this? I’m pretty sure having Kondo-san, Captain Okita and Hijikata-san was enough."

“No, no, no. You can’t have too much man power,” Pops replied. “Besides, you’re our secret weapon.”

“Secret weapon?” Olivia looked at Hijikata who shrugged.

“Ah! There he is!” Matsudaira exclaimed pointing at a man who was dressed like someone who was either in a gang or very into hip-hop.

“Hey, Kuriko! Did I keep you waiting?” The man asked, coming up to a cute young woman who shook her head in response.

“Bullshit,” Matsudaira hissed, opening his duffle bag. “You kept my daughter waiting for over an hour. How dare he make her wait and waste her time.” He pulled out an automatic gun and pointed it over the hedges at the man. “I’ll kill you.”

Olivia’s face twisted into a disappointed expression. Kondo and Okita stared at Pops in confusion, but Hijikata was not having any of this.

“You mean to tell me that the vilest man that we are after is your daughter’s boyfriend?”

“Boyfriend?” Matsudaira laughed. “He’ll never be her boyfriend. Look at him! I’ll never let that happen! I’ll kill him right here and now!”

“Looks like your daughter says otherwise,” Olivia muttered, walking away from them. “I’m going to get some food and leave this to you guys.”

“I’ll pay for all the food you want if you stay,” Matsudaira said.

That made her stop and walk back to Hijikata’s side.

“You seriously can’t say no to that?” Hijikata mumbled then turned back to Pops. “This is ridiculous. You told us all to take off work for this thinking that you were talking about some anti-foreigner faction, but you just want us to break things off between your daughter and her boyfriend.”

While Hijikata was basically having a crap attack, Olivia watched as Kondo and Sogo went for the duffle bag. From their back pockets they took out sunglasses, and put them on. From the duffle bag, they grabbed a gun each and stood ready to do whatever Matsudaira asked of them.

“Kondo, explain to this overprotective parent that he’s doing something stupid,” Hijikata said.

“Who you calling Kondo?”  Kondo cocked the gun and went to Matsudaira’s side. “I’m assassin Gorilla 13.”

“You too?!” Hikiata screeched.

“I won’t let Kuriko be with someone like that,” Kondo replied. “Kuriko deserves better.”

“Kondo! Let’s go!” Matsudaira yelled and they both rushed through the bushes towards the entrance.

“This is bad,” Hijikata sighed. “Olivia, Sogo, let’s make sure they don’t do anything stupid.”

“Uhm,” Olivia tugged on Toshi’s garb and pointed behind her.

“Who are you calling Sogo?” Okita cocked his gun. “It’s assassin Sogo 13.”

“You’re all nuts!” Hijikata screamed as Okita followed after the other two.

“Let’s go, Toshi,” Olivia hummed, also following the others into the park. “I’m holding Pops to his word about my food.”

“Is that all you care about?” Hijikata mumbled, but followed after her reluctantly.

Olivia shook her head. “No, but free food always tastes better. I’ll share with you, don’t worry.”

They caught up with the three assassins waiting in line for the merry-go-round. Great. The first ride they decide to go on was a spinning one. Given, the merry-go-round wasn’t fast at all, but it still made Olivia a bit queasy. Hijikata sat in one of those carriages while the rest took seats on the wooden horses. As they started to go around, Olivia’s posture started to worsen.

“Why did I get on this thing?” She wheezed.

“When do we catch up? We’re moving but not getting any closer,” Matsudaira asked.

“We’re on a merry-go-round!” Hijikata barked. “We’re not ever going to get any closer!”

“Hey, I didn’t know that. I’ve never been to an amusement park before,” Pops replied.

“You’re all crazy for doing this!” Hijikata started up again. “You don’t have to kill him to break them up!”

Matsudaira looked over his shoulder. “What do you mean, Toshi?”

The ride came to a stop and the couple got off their horses. Matsudaira and Kondo quickly got off to follow while Sogo and Hijikata helped Olivia off her horse. She hiccupped and made odd sounds, but nothing else. They caught up with Kondo and Pops that were now on line for the teacups.

“Oh geez,” Olivia whimpered. “Another spinning ride?”

“Would you like us to leave you at the exit, Olivia-san?” Sogo asked.

Olivia shook her head, getting ahold of herself just in time for the line to move and for them to get in the teacups. “I-it’s okay. Besides-,” She cozied up next to Hijikata in a teacup and giggled. “It’s like we’re on a little date of our own, hm?” And there was a high chance of all of them forgetting about her after the ride if they had left her at the exit.

Toshi grumbled, folding his arms at his chest. “I’d hardly call following a couple around trying to break them off a _date_.”

The ride started and Olivia immediately caved over the middle handle of the teacup. “Is this ride really safe for people?”

“Sogo asked if you wanted to be left by the exit,” Hijikata sighed, but then started up with his howling again. “I’m not going to deny this man’s worth just by how he looks!”

“He’s covered with holes!” Matsudaira growled at him. “We’re born with so many holes! Why do you need to make more?!”

“I don’t think body piercing is a capital offense,” Hijikata mumbled.

“Girls always go for the dangerous type and mature after they get burned a bit,” Sogo said.

“I look dangerous, so how come no girls are on me?” Kondo asked in a pout.

“Kondo-san,” Olivia hiccupped. “You don’t look dangerous. Not with that haircut anyway.”

The ride had finally stopped and Sogo had both Olivia and Kondo with an arm over his shoulders. ‘ _Not another spinning ride,_ ’ she pleaded in her thoughts. She didn’t think she could last another ride like that. Kondo was the first to hurl which made Olivia hold her mouth tight. ‘ _Please no. Please no._ ’ But, no matter how much she begged her body, it eventually couldn’t take anymore.

“Oh god-,” She shook her arm out of Sogo’s grip and booked it towards the nearest trashcan. As she did her thing into the trashcan, she felt a hand bundle up her hair out of her face and another rub her back. When her heaving eventually stopped, she wiped her mouth of the vomit, and turned around to see Hijikata.

“You okay?” He asked, letting go of her hair.

She nodded. “Just… give me a sec.” She turned back around and like _magic_ , salty water formed in her mouth. She swished it around her mouth thoroughly, spat it out in the trash then turned back around. “Okay, I’m good.”

“Well, they’re going on the roller coaster next,” Hijikata pointed. “Are you okay with that?”

“Oh! Yes, of course!” She clapped her hands together in excitement. “I mean; I fly like a roller coaster sometimes! So, I’ll be good.”

Sogo was nowhere to be seen until actually getting on the coaster. Olivia wasn’t particularly happy when she found herself sitting next to Kondo on the coaster. She crossed her arms in a pout and kept them cross throughout the ride until suddenly, Sogo flew towards her; clinging on to Hijikata’s and Pops’ seats for his life.

“I forgot to buckle in!” He screamed. “I forgot to buckle my seatbelt!”

“H-hey! What’s wrong with him?!” Pops asked as Sogo continued to scream. “He’s acting completely different!”

“I-I’m only a sadist because I’m insecure on the inside!” Sogo confessed. “Help me! Help me!”

Olivia took her right arm out from under the safety bar and wrapped both arms around Okita’s waist. “Captain Okita! Let go!”

“What?! Are you nuts?!

Olivia’s grip grew tighter. “I’ve got you! Now let go!”

Sogo went silent for a moment, but then let go and was safely brought to sit in between Olivia and Kondo. Sogo held tight to both Olivia’s safety bar and herself for the rest of the ride. Olivia helped Sogo off the coaster and Hijikata took his arm and put it over his shoulder.

‘ _Poor Captain_ ,’ Olivia thought, then noticed that Kondo hadn’t gotten off yet. ‘ _Why is he sitting so weirdly?_ ’

“What?!” Hijikata’s screech made Olivia turn back to the couple. “She doesn’t care if he shits his pants?!”

“She did too, Toshi! She did too!” Matsudaira screamed, shaking Hijikata’s arm. “What is this?! They’ve gotten closer Toshi! This isn’t supposed to happen!”

“They’re going to the next attraction!” Hijikata shouted and looked towards Kondo. “Hurry up, Kondo-san!”

But he was staring off the other way with a pained little smile on his face; still sitting weirdly. They all stared at him until he eventually looked back and his pained smile grew bigger.

“Toshi….” Kondo shed a single tear. “I, uh… I totally… crapped my pants.”

“All this for free food,” Olivia whined.

“Are you still just here for the food?!” Hijikata asked with a slight snarl.

“Wait,” Matusdaira put his hand on Olivia’s shoulder with a few pats. “She’s our secret weapon. We’ll use her next.”

“Huh?” Hijikata and Olivia blinked.

“You three follow them,” Matsudaira ordered and pushed Olivia away from them. “We’ll meet up with you.”

“W-where are we going?” Olivia asked.

Matsudaira picked up his duffle bag on the way out of the coaster area. “To the restrooms.”

“B-but I don’t need to, uh… go.”

They got to the restrooms and Matsudaira gave her the duffle bag, pushed her into the stall, and closed the door. “Put whatever is in there on, put your other clothes into the duffle bag and tell me when you’re finished.”

Olivia sighed, but went through the duffle bag, finding a corset, a short, pink, glittery, halter top dress and matching heels. She knew exactly what he wanted her to do and she banged her fist on the door in rage.

“I’m not wearing this!” She hissed. “No! Definitely not!”

“No food,” He said.

“I don’t care!” She screamed, banging harder.

“You won’t get to come out of their then until we have taken care of that man.”

Olivia sighed and reluctantly put everything on. She didn’t want to be left in a smelly restroom nor forgotten in a smelly restroom. The corset was way too tight. It made her breasts pop up and look bigger than they actually were. The dress was itchy and tight around her neck. The heels were just her size, but they pinched her toes and her heel. She stuffed her own clothes into the duffle bag and banged on the door to be let out.

Pops opened the door and looked her up and down; tilting his sunglasses slightly down his nose as he did so. “I didn’t know you had a tattoo…. This will work perfectly.”

He grabbed the duffle bag from her hand and started for the others. She unwillingly followed, shielding her top half from the views of other eyes. The ladies judged her while the men analyzed every part of her body. It was embarrassing. As they got closer to the others, she let out a yelp and hid behind an ice cream stand.

“The guy just came back from changing his clothes and your daughter went to get something to eat, I think.” Hijikata said as Matsudaira joined him, Sogo, and Kondo. Hijikata’s brow arched as he peered behind Pops. “Uh… where’s Olivia?”

“Hm?” Matsudaira looked behind him and sneered. “Come on! I have to go over the plan with you quickly!”

“I-I’m not coming out!” She squealed, squeezing her chest tighter. “I hate this!”

Matsudaira rubbing his chin with a finger. “I’ll pay for all the food you want today and-.”

“That won’t work this time!” She screeched.

“Olivia-san,” Sogo spoke up, seeming to have recovered from his roller coaster ride. “This is an order from your Captain. Come out from wherever you are hiding.”

Nothing happened for a moment, but then Olivia came out from behind the ice cream stand and joined the rest of them with an embarrassed expression. Kondo’s mouth dropped to the ground. Hijikata’s cigarette fell out of his mouth and Sogo’s eyes grew big.

“You’re using my girlfriend as a way to get that guy to cheat on your daughter?!” Hijikata broke the silence with his growling. “No way!”

“Oh, Olivia’s your girlfriend?” Matsudaira scratched as his head. “I didn’t realize and it’s not to have the guy cheat on my daughter. It’s to have Kuriko realize that that guy is a scumbag that will _eventually_ cheat on her.”

“W-why am I wearing a corset?” Olivia’s voice was weak and shaky. “It’s t-too tight… I can b-barely breathe….”

“Your chest is too small for a guy like that’s liking. They needed to seem bigger,” Matsudaira explained.

Olivia covered her chest and turned partially away. “Stop talking about my body like that! Stop _looking_ at my body like that!”

“Hijikata-san, are you okay with a girlfriend with small boobs?” Okita asked, not to actually mock Olivia but to tease Hijikata.

Toshi slipped Sogo’s feet from under him and started to stomp on Sogo’s back. “Don’t talk about my girlfriend that way!” He stopped and slapped Kondo on the back. “And stop looking at her that way, Kondo-san!”

“Sorry, Toshi….” Kondo mumbled, then pointed to Olivia’s arm. “I didn’t know you had a tattoo.” Trying to lighten the mood, but it wasn’t working.

Olivia hummed a response but that was all.

“All I need you to do is flirt with him and get him to flirt back and once Kuriko comes back, she’ll see him flirting and break up with him,” Matsudaira explained. “You can handle that, I’m sure.”

“…Your daughter won’t hurt me or something, right?” Olivia asked.

“No, no, no. She knows a little self-defense but she firmly believes in pacifism,” Matsudaira said.

Olivia sighed, dropped her hands and turned away from them. “Okay… okay, I’ll do it.”

Olivia fixed her hair, straightened her back and sauntered over to where Kuriko’s boyfriend was standing. He immediately noticed her, but didn’t say anything or continue to look as she passed him. She stopped, turned around and leaned on a lamppost.

“Hi big boy,” She purred, looking at him with lust filled eyes. That’s what women said to men to get them to pay attention, right? “Come here often?”

He whipped around and quickly shook his head. “N-no! I’m with my girlfriend!”

“Oh, your girlfriend, hm?” Olivia pushed off the post and drifted towards him. Her finger went under his chin and tickled him slightly which sent chills up and down his spine. “How about we go on some rides together, hm?”

“N-no! I-I’m waiting for my girlfriend!”

“Aww, come on.” She dragged her hand down his chest slowly. “We can truly have some _fun_.”

“W-what’s going on, Shichibei-san?”

Shichibei grabbed Olivia’s wrist and pushed it away from his chest. “N-nothing’s going on, Kuriko-san! I swear!”

Olivia shook her head with a silent laugh. “This is your girlfriend? Mmm, she’s cute, but you need a _woman_ , not a little girl like her.”

It was quite for a moment. Kuriko stared in disbelief at the smug smile placed upon Olivia’s lips. Shichibei in the back, sweating like a pig and looking around to see if anyone else was staring at the scene. Then, in a blink of an eye, there was a thump, a crack, and a howling scream coming from Olivia. She held both hands gently over her nose and bent over so that if any blood dripped through her fingers, it wouldn’t get on the dress.

“Come on, Shichibei,” Kuriko huffed, locking arms with him. “I want to ride the merry-go-round again.” As they left, the others came running towards the bleeding, in pain, still hunched over Olivia.

“I thought-,” Olivia growled in a low menacing voice, turning to Pops and putting her hands to her sides showing off her bleeding nose and lip. “that your daughter was a pacifist!”

“Well, I never actually said she _was_ a pacifist but said that she believes in pacifism-.”

Olivia cocked her fist and punched Matsudaira where Kuriko had previously punched her. “If I was a human, that would have broken my nose and would have given me a swollen lip!”

“At least that corset kept everything together while you were getting beat,” Sogo commented.

“Captain Okita, would you like to be next?” Olivia smiled, showing her first that had a bit of Matsudaira’s blood on it.

“No thanks.”

“Give me that duffle bag!” Olivia hissed, grabbed the duffle bag from Pops and trudged off to the bathrooms again. “Can’t believe this!”

Getting to the bathrooms, she slammed the door shut and ripped everything off. She stuffed the given garments back into the bag and only put on her underwear, pants and boots. She examined herself in the mirror and sighed. It was a lot of blood to clean up. Her nose was starting to bruise up a bit as well. Sighing once more, she cleaned herself up until she was sure she wasn’t bleeding anymore, put her bra and shirt on, and rejoined the gang who she found sitting on some benches looking helpless.

“Glad to have you rejoin us, Olivia-san,” Kondo was the only one to greet her.

Olivia scoffed, threw the duffle bag down at Matsudaira’s feet and leaned against the trashcan; refusing to sit in between Hijikata and Pops. “Are we finished here yet? It doesn’t look like we can do anything about the boyfriend.”

“Maybe,” Matsudaira said. He pulled out a small, cardboard box and handed it to her. “I bought you some dango while you were changing.”

Olivia snatched the box from him and started to pop them in her mouth. “Thanks.”

“My daughter could learn a thing or two from you, Olivia,” Pops said. “Well, with her taste in men anyway. Toshi is a good man. A little on the temperamental side but as I’ve seen, you mellow him out… and you’re also a little bit temperamental."

“Pops…,” Toshi groaned, taking a big inhale of his cigarette.

“Pops!” Okita pointed towards Kuriko and Shichibei. “They’re going on the ferris wheel! They’re going on the ferris wheel! They’re going to kiss! You know they’re going to kiss!”

“No! No! We can’t let that happen! I won’t let that happen!” Matsudaira picked up his gun and ran towards the wheel as did Kondo and Sogo.

“Are you going too, Hijikata-san?” Olivia asked.

But he stayed quiet with his eyes closed. Olivia chewed slowly as she stared at him, waiting for an answer. He blew smoke from his mouth and put out the cigarette. Yet he didn’t move nor did he open his eyes. Was he okay? Should she take him to the hospital? He wasn’t responding. Had he suddenly gone deaf? She was relieved when his lips curled into that famous grin of his. He got up and stood in front of her. He wiped away some sauce that had gotten on to her cheek and kissed her deeply.

“I’m sorry that I’ve been hard to deal with today… er, _very_ hard to deal with,” Hijikata said when he had pulled away from her lips. “How about I take you out to dinner tonight? My treat.”

Her head was in a daze, but Olivia nodded in agreement.

Out from under the bench, Hijikata hauled a bazooka that looked like a mayonnaise jar. “Would you be able to fly me up on one of the ferris wheel rooftops?”

“Wait, where did you get that bazooka?”

Hijikata shook his head. “Not important.”

Olivia rolled her eyes, but did what he had asked of her. Her wings came out and she gripped Hijikata under both arms tightly. She sucked in and started to float over to the ferris wheel. Hijikata panicked a bit. She bet it felt weird to him to be flying without any sort of ship or plane but he eventually calmed down. She set him down gently on one of the rooftops and flew a bit away to give him some space. She then watched as the following events happened:

A helicopter with Matsudaira, Kondo and Sogo appeared before the ferris wheel. They all had their automatics pointed at the little house with Kuriko and her boyfriend in it.

Hijikata pointed his mayo canon at the helicopter saying that he was known as mayo-sama 13. The canon’s blast hit the helicopter, blasting it into the water below.

Kuriko opened the house door and “confessed” some sort of “love” for mayo-sama making both Hijikata and Shichibei confused and fall into the water below as well.

_‘What did I expect?’_ With disappointment written on her face, she got to work helping the men out of the water to dry land. Once on land, they proceeded to bicker over every event that day and she honestly couldn’t deal with it. She slipped a kiss on to Hijikata’s cheek and told him that she would be waiting at headquarters for him to take her out for dinner.


	16. Chapter 16

“I’ve never seen so many types of fish dishes before!” Olivia buzzed, walking into the headquarters hand in hand with Hijikata. “They all looked so delicious!”

“Did you not have that many types of fish on your planet?” He asked as he finished his second after meal cigarette.

Olivia shook her head. “All we had on our planet was something kind of like squid, but it was pretty gross and all the dishes made from it were slimy.” She shuddered at the thought. “There actually weren’t many dishes on my home planet that I liked. I much prefer earth food!”

“Heh, a bit picky for someone who has lived for 250 years on one planet,” Hijikata grinned, but Olivia’s face puffed up into a pout.

“Well, you would know if you lived on my planet!”

Hijikata smirked and grabbed her left cheek gently with two fingers. “You know, you’re adorable when you make that face.”

Her face went beat red. She scrunched up her nose and shook his hand off her cheek. “Am I not adorable _all_ the time?”

“You are-,” He turned and pinched both of her cheeks this time with a smile that made her love him even more. “But you’re even more adorable when you make that face.”

Olivia shook her head and pushed away his hands. Her gaze fell to the ground. “Toshirou….”

His finger lifted her chin up for her eyes to meet his piercing gaze that she loved so much. “Wait for me in my office. I’ll meet you in there in a moment.”

She nodded and went to wait in his office. She slid off her boots and closed the door behind her, waiting in front of his desk awkwardly. She hadn’t actually been in his office before. She’s passed by it, but had never been in it. She was usually in Captain Okita’s office and sometimes Kondo’s. Hijikata had never called her into his office. Not even for Shinsengumi related issues. It looked like every boring office that she had ever been in. Kondo’s and Okita’s at least had some personal pictures; which she found weird that Okita had anything personal at all in his office. But, Hijikata had nothing except for that plush bunny she had won him. The desk had the office basics with the plush bunny, one of those swivel chairs with no arm rests behind it, a single, potted plant that looked ready to die, and a few bookshelves for paperwork. It was at least more of an office than what Gintoki called an office.

“So, uh-,”

“Oh!” She whirled around towards the doors to meet a blushing Hijikata with his hands behind his back. “I didn’t even hear you come in!”

“Sorry if I scared you.”

“Hm,” She pointed to him. “What do you have behind your back?”

“Well,” He breathed in and grit his teeth. “I… uh… I liked that dress that you had on earlier at the amusement park-,” from behind his back, came the pink, glittery dress that she had to wear to woo Shichibei. “so, I took it from Pops.”

She thought for a moment at what exactly he had wanted to do with the dress then her mouth formed a small smile. Olivia chuckled and grabbed it from Hijikata, motioning to the chair. “Go sit.”

Once sitting, he put his elbows on his desk, hands together and stared intently at Olivia as she slowly changed into the dress. She slid off her pants and panties, pushing them to the side. Her shirt came off and her bra, and pulled the dress over her head, smoothing it out. It was still relatively itchy, but it fit much better without that stupid corset then with.

“So?” She swayed a bit for him, turning around to show him her back side and then back to the front.

He leaned back in his chair and gave her the ‘come here’ motion with his finger. She sauntered over, behind his desk and his hands immediately went to her sides and marveled at her figure. He growled lowly as his hands ran up and down her sides. He pulled her down to straddle his lap and peppered her face and neck with kisses.

“Toshi~,” She groaned as he made his way down her neck to her chest. She thought for a moment, biting her lip as she did so and then began releasing Hijikata’s top half from his yukata.

“A little impatient today?”

Olivia nodded, tracing one of his scars. “Do you remember where you got this one from?”

“Hm?” He looked down to the scar she was tracing and scoffed. “Sogo got me.”

She frowned and started to trace another. “How about this one?”

“Sogo.”

Her frown deepened as she traced yet another. “I’m assuming this one is from the Captain as well?”

“Let’s just say that most of the scars him and I have, have been from each other.”

“Mmm, in that case….” She bent down to his neck and nicked it with her teeth making him gasp slightly. She sucked the wounded area hard, kissed it then looked up with a face of accomplishment. “Now there’s one from me.”

Hijikata grinned and turned to show the other side of his neck. “What about the other side?”

She picked an area near his collar bone and sucked, nicked and kissed the area until the wound was big and dark. While Olivia was having fun marking him as hers, Hijikata’s fingers danced lightly on her shoulders, trying to be subtle as he undid the halter part around her neck. It fell gracefully from her neck and he gently pushed the dress down under her breasts.

“You wanted me to put this dress on and you already want it off?” Olivia purred into his ear. “Don’t be so hasty.”

“I don’t want it off,” He said, grabbing the condom he had brought from his room and ripping it open. “I want to fuck you in it. I just like having access to what’s mine.”

Hijikata slipped off his yukata and boxers, exposing his erect member. He smoothed the condom over and in one fluid motion, lifted Olivia up and placed her directly over him, slowly sliding down on to him. They both moaned in unison. Once she was as far as she could go, she began to rock her hips making his moaning continue. He grabbed what he could of her ass and helped rock her hips faster.

“Someone just can’t wait, hm?” Olivia giggled and went for his neck again, sucking and kissing.

“Y-you’re so beautiful I-I just… can’t help myself,” Hijikata grunted, now gripping under her and helping her up and down his length.

The compliment made her face heat up more than it already was. Olivia nuzzled her face into the crook of Hijikata’s neck, continuing the motion that he was inviting her to do. Hijikata frowned slightly. Still inside Olivia, he got up from the chair and laid her down on the desk, leaning over her face as he was now able to thrust as fast and as hard as he wanted.

“T-Toshi~,” She mewled, dragging her nails across his back.

“You’re just marking every inch of me tonight, aren’t you?” He grinned, kissing her lips as he made his final increase in pace. “Come with me.”

She threw a wickedly devilish grin his way. “Is that an order, Vice-Chief?”

He bit down hard on the sweet spot on her neck, making her squeal with excitement. “What else would it be coming from the demon Vice-Chief?”

As always, Toshirou marked up her neck and chest as they both reached for their climax. Olivia squeezed her arms tightly around him, screaming his name and arching her back as she came. Hijikata’s bite didn’t loosen and neither did his grip on her outer thighs. His pace eventually slowed and they stayed in that position, trying to get control over their breathing together. Hijikata nuzzled his nose into her neck, breathed in her scent then left one last kiss on her neck before pulling himself out of her.

Olivia sat up and scratched the back of her head with a yawn. “Mmm, I’m exhausted.”

Hijikata laughed as he traced the roses on her arm. “Today was quite the eventful day.”

Olivia’s face twisted into a frown once she remembered that they were in Hijikata’s office and not in his bedroom.

“Just put on the dress again, and rush to my room,” Hijikata said as if he could read her mind. “I’ll clean up and bring your clothes with me.”

“Are you sure?”

He nodded. “Don’t worry about anything.”

Olivia hopped down off his desk and fixed herself; putting the halter back around her neck and fixing her hair. She smoothed the dress down, fixed the fabric around her breasts and cracked the door open slightly. She slipped out of the office and quietly dashed to his room, but not before running into the worst person to have run into.

“Olivia-san,” Captain Okita greeted. “You’re up late.”

“Oh, uh….”

“Why are you wearing that dress that Pops made you wear today?”

“I... I liked it a lot so I asked him if I could have it….” She lied right through her teeth and Sogo knew it.

His brows arched and his face slid into that sadistic expression that he got when he was about to torment his victim. “But that doesn’t answer the question… _Why_ are you wearing it?”

She bit the inside of her cheek and rubbed her ankle with her other foot. “W-well… it’s comfortable, and it’s light and airy.”

“It’s light, airy and comfortable?” He tapped his finger on the handle of his sword. “But you look exhausted and sweaty, and the dress definitely doesn’t look light, airy nor comfortable.”

“Th-that’s because I was running to my room just now!” Well, it wasn’t a total lie, but it was definitely… yeah, it was a lie.

“So… a very fit, first division Shinsengumi member is this sweaty after running just a yard or two to her room?” He took a step forward and sniffed the air. “But yet… you smell as though you were doing something very specific… with a certain demon Vice-Chief, correct?”

“I….” She gulped, staring at his piercing, evil gaze for a moment, then booked it past him. “Sorry Captain! I-I have to go! Good night!”

She slid into Hijikata’s room and slammed the door shut. She was hot and panting all over again, but it didn’t feel good at all. Captain Okita was the real demon, not Hijikata. The demon Captain… yeah, that fit him perfectly.

“You know; you could have just gone through the building instead of around.”

She yelped and spun around to see Hijikata already in bed waiting for her. She then rolled her eyes, took a couple of calming breathes and took off the dress. “You heard all that huh?"

Hijikata nodded then pat her side of the futon. “I’ll let Sogo have it tomorrow morning.”

Olivia laid down next to Hijikata, curling up with her head on his chest and his fingers in her hair. “Don’t worry about it. It’s my fault for going outside… but I appreciate it.”


	17. Chapter 17

“Captain Okita should do his _own_ paperwork,” Olivia snarled quietly, gathering up the papers on her floor into an organized pile. “I don’t even know what half this shit says.” Well, he could do what she didn’t. He didn’t really expect her to actually fill out every single part, right? If he did, he’s stupid.

She walked out of her room towards Captain Okita’s office, reviewing the papers as she did. Did this need to be stated? What the hell did she write over in the corner? She grumbled curses to herself. The paperwork that she handed in never came back to her nor did Okita actually say anything about it to her once handed in. She could never tell if he was happy with the paper work or mad. He always just took it and put it with his other finished paperwork. Did he ever even look at it?

“Oi, Olivia-san.”

As she passed by the dining area, she looked up and saw Okita, Hijikata and Kondo enjoying some tea and noodles together. You would think it was a rare sight, but it honestly wasn’t.

“Oh, Captain Okita, I was just on my way to drop this paperwork off-.”

“Olivia-san, I want to ask you a question,” Sougo cut her off. She tilted her head in wonder. “What are your kinks?”

Hijikata practically choked on his cigarette, but Olivia tilted her head the other way. “My what?”

“Kinks,” Sougo repeated.

The paperwork dropped to the floor. Olivia shut the doors behind her, unsheathed her sword and pushed herself up against wall to peer out of the little windows that the doors had. “You’ve seen them?”

They all stared at her baffled at her quick change in demeanor.

Her eyes darted to them and then back out the window. “I thought the Kinks were not suitable for this planet’s climate but I guess they had evolved.”

“Olivia-san… what are you talking about?” Kondo asked.

“Kinks are very dangerous beings if you don’t know how to handle them,” She explained, putting on sunglasses.

“…Where did those sunglasses come from?” Hijikata asked with a sigh.

“No time to explain that.” Olivia switched from one side of the door to the other. “They wipe out whole villages in a matter of hours. They’re dangerous, but they’re quite dumb, so rat traps should do fine with catching at least a few.”

“Olivia-san… what do you think I meant by kinks?” Okita asked.

Olivia looked towards them, taking off her glasses. “Uh… are we not talking about _Kinkerlings_?”

Okita hiccupped and then burst out into a howling laughter. “Olivia-san! Olivia-san! No, no, no! Kinks as in something you like or something that turns you on during sex!”

Olivia busted the doors open then hung her head and her shoulders low with a sigh. “I feel stupid.”

There was a pat on her back and a smiling Captain Okita came into view. “Don’t worry so much about it! Come on. Let’s go on patrol.”

“Huh? Cap…. Captain Okita? Huh?” Olivia watched in shock as her Captain whistled a small, nice tune as he went to get his things from his room. She turned to the others and pointed her thumb to where Okita had gone. “Is… is he okay? Is the Captain going to be okay?”

“Don’t worry, Olivia-san!” Kondo grinned. “He gets into these weird moods every so often!”

“Or when he’s planning something devious,” Hijikata mumbled, puffing on his cigarette.

“Come on, Olivia-san!” Okita waved to her from the yard. “Don’t worry about that paperwork! Hijikata-san will take care of it!”

“Why are you shoving your paperwork on to me now?!”

She didn’t know how to feel about this…. “Oh, uh… o-okay,” Olivia bowed to Kondo and a fuming Hijikata, and quickly left with Okita on a patrol.

Okita walked a bit faster than Olivia and seemed to have a bit of a skip to his step. She had never seen her Captain like this and was very, _very_ afraid. Did he hit his head? Maybe she should take him to the hospital. Or maybe it was just as Kondo had said… worst case scenario, Hijikata was correct. However, Olivia had gotten used to Sougo’s mocking, teasing and taunting. Whatever he was planning, couldn’t be that terrible, if he was planning something that is.

“Are you hungry? You didn’t have any lunch today, did you?” Okita asked, stopping Olivia in front of a food stand.

“Oh, uh… I’m a little bit hungry,” She muttered.

Okita reached into his pocket and handed her some coins and a couple of bills. “Go buy something from that stand. My treat.”

_‘Okay, now this is just getting weird,’_ but she smiled and bowed her head. “Thank you very much, Captain!”

Olivia hopped up to the front of the stand and stood there for a moment looking over her options. There wasn’t a lot, but they all seemed so good. Should she get some for Okita as well? He gave her enough money for two things. It was only fair that she got him something as well.

“Two orders of tofu and bacon fritters please!”

The vendor nodded with a polite smile and started with her order. It was strange. Just before she had popped up to the stand, there were quite a number of people crowding around. But now, there was no one. The fritters were ready in no time and the vendor handed her two cups of them. Olivia paid happily and turned around back to Okita.

“Captain Okita! I got you-,” She cut herself off and saw why there was no one on the streets now.

“You what?” Okita asked, oblivious to the fact that there was an anti-foreigner faction member right behind him with a sword over his head.

“Captain!” Olivia dropped both of the cups and booked it; pushing Sougo out of the way just in time. She caught the blade in her hands, but the member was still pushing down with all his might, the blade slicing into her hands.

“Ah,” The member purred with a grin. “So, you’re the filthy amanto that the Shinsengumi hired. Figures that they would want someone like you in their leagues to help take this fine country away from us!”

Olivia fixed her footing and pushed the member away from them. She felt Okita’s back nudge hers. They came in droves of numbers and quickly surrounded the two. Were they waiting for them? They had to have been following them. Why didn’t they notice sooner? There was too many of them for Okita and Olivia to take on. Even if she had the ability to use her magic. Her wings weren’t out and taking them out would only provoke the faction members to attack early. She wouldn’t be able to cast anything that quickly.

“Captain,” She whispered as quietly as she could. “What do we do?”

There was no answer. Only silence.

She observed the crowd around her to find some sort of opening. Instead, she found that multiple members had handguns drawn, with their fingers on the trigger. They were hidden well and she wasn’t sure if Captain Okita had noticed. She couldn’t warn him either. That would provoke the members as well. She gulped back a knot in her throat. This was bad.

‘ _Maybe…,’_ She thought, biting down hard at her lip. There was a chance that she would be able to protect them from at least the bullets. It was the simple dome spell that she had used in her fight with the shapeshifter. She didn’t need her wings out for that. However, she would have to stay silent while casting it. She had never done it before, but it was the only choice she- _they_ had.

She didn’t have time to debate with herself about it anymore. A gun had clicked. She had no choice now. Squeezing her eyes tight, she concentrated on the spell she wanted to use. _‘Come on… come on….’_ There was a single shot, then came multiples. Olivia couldn’t feel a single thing. Was the dome working, or was she just concentrating so hard on the spell that she couldn’t even feel the shots being lodged into her body?

The shooting eventually ceased. Olivia cracked an eye open then cracked the other one open. She looked down at her body. Examined her hands, her arms, picked up a foot to examine her leg.

“I… I did it,” She squealed to herself. “Captain Okita!” She looked over her shoulder with a beaming smile. “Captain Okita!”

He didn’t move, nor did he say anything.

“… Captain?”

“Olivia-san,” He breathed deeply and exhaled shakily. “This is an order; run.”

And the Captain collapsed.

“C-Captain?” Blood started to seep through his clothing and on to the ground. She had only protected herself. _Not him_. “Captain!”

“Damn!” A faction member growled, holding his sword at the ready. “We only got one.”

“Let’s get this one and report back,” Another snorted, taking a step forward. “Shouldn’t be that much of a hassle.”

“You-,” Olivia’s hands balled into fists. “You _monsters_.”

“You’re the monster, you scumbag amanto!” Many of the faction members yelled in agreement. “You’re a fucking lowlife! A waste of space! Get her!”

They all charged at once. In one fluid motion, she unsheathed her sword and lashed out against the first couple of members that she could hit. “ _Stay away from my Captain_!” She kicked out behind her, kicking a member straight in the gut. Cut down a few with her sword and once she had the chance, her wings came out and the ground below quickly became ice. The members slipped and fell as they tried to maneuver their way towards her. She bent down over Okita and examined him further. He was still breathing and had a very weak pulse, but at least he still had one. She hugged him tightly, and shot up into the air with him still in her arms.

“Naughty children the lot of you,” She hissed down at the still slipping faction members. “Naughty children have to be punished. _O holy light from the heavens above. Show us your strength. Show us your heat. Show us your power! Flare blits_!” The ice below them shatter and started to melt. The members started to sweat and eventually heat blisters popped up from everywhere on their skin. The blisters grew big and oozed lava like liquid from them.

She left the members screaming in pain and flew towards the hospital as fast as she could. ‘ _Hold on Captain Okita._ ’ She pleaded with the gods that she would make in time. She pleaded with them that he would be alright.

“Someone! Please!” She screamed at the people in front of the hospital as she landed. “Someone help! My Captain needs to be seen immediately!”

Out of the hospital rushed a team with a rolling bed. She set him down on it and just as quick as they came, they booked it inside, leaving Olivia by herself. She looked on after them. A million and one thoughts swirled around her mind, yet, she felt as though her mind was completely empty.

“Miss?”

Her gaze on the hospital door broke and she was face to face with a smiling nurse.

“Your hands are bleeding,” The nurse pointed down. “Come inside and I can at least give you a towel to compress the wound and help stop the bleeding.”

The nurse led Olivia into the hospital and sat her down in a chair in a quiet hallway. Olivia sat there staring at her hands as the nurse went to fetch a towel. There was more than just her own blood on her hands. There was Captain Okita’s; both physically and figuratively. It was her fault. It was _her fault_.

The nurse came back and put the cold, damp towel in both her hands and squeezed them together tightly. “Hold tight so that the wounds will stop bleeding.”

Olivia nodded. “What about my Captain?”

“He’s being looked at by the top doctors and is going through surgery to get the bullets out of his body,” The nurse said, putting a hand on Olivia’s shoulder. “The Shinsengumi Captain is in good hands! Don’t worry!”

Don’t worry she says. How could Olivia _not_ worry? The nurse eventually walked away and time seemed to pass by slowly. No one paid her any mind as they walked by and she was thankful for it for she was too busy with her thoughts.

“Olivia-san!”

Before she could react to the call, she was embraced by Kondo and Hijikata in one big group hug.

“Are you okay? What happened? Did you get checked out by a doctor?” All these questions that Hijikata was spewing at her made her head spin a bit.

“I-I’m fine. Just a few gashes on my hands,” She said, showing them the bloody rag that was in between her hands. “But… Captain Okita….” She looked towards the surgery doors and sighed. “I hope he’s doing okay.”

“Don’t you worry about Sougo, Olivia-san,” Kondo said.

“Yeah,” Hijikata nodded. “He’s a tough one. It would take a lot to kill him.”

“….” Her head hung low at the thought. “We were ambushed by a horde of anti-foreigner faction members.”

“Yeah, we found them laying in the middle of the road with badly popped heat blisters and a… a liquid almost like lava oozing out of them,” Kondo said. “Was that your doing?”

She nodded. “Sorry if none of them survived.”

Hijikata shook his head dismissively. “That’s not a problem.”

“Some of them had guns,” Olivia continued. “I had noticed. I don’t think Captain Okita did though, but if I warned him, it would have provoked them sooner. We couldn’t do anything… _I_ couldn’t do anything.”

“How were you able to dodge those bullets then?” Kondo asked, taking a seat next to her.

She squeezed the rag tighter. “I thought I could protect us both. I thought… I thought I was able to create a shield around both of us… but it only had any impact on me.” She shut her eyes tight when she realized that tears were about to fall. “Why am I so weak?”

“Olivia-san…,” Kondo put a hand on her knee hesitantly since Hijikata was watching every movement. “You’re not weak. You’re a strong member of the Shinsengumi.”

“… Bullshit.”

“Olivia-san!”

“Sorry for the language, Kondo-san,” She said. “But I don’t feel that way. You know, those faction members called me a filfthy, lowlife amanto… maybe that’s what I-.”

Hijikata’s hand covered her mouth before she could finish. He got down to her eye level and shook his head. “Those anti-foreigner faction members will _never_ be right about you. You are a good addition to the Shinsengumi and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Especially them.”

“Ah! All of you are here!” A doctor came from down the hall with a bright smile on his face. “Okita-san is doing just fine! He’s a bit… _holey_ right now, but he’s doing fine! You can go in and see him if you’d like!” The doctor pointed down the hall. “He’s in the fourth room on the left.”

“Come on, Olivia-san!” Kondo jumped from his seat with so much energy that it rocked her chair. “Sougo’s waiting for us!”

Olivia shook her head. “You guys go. I’m going to stay here for a few more minutes.”

“Are you sure?” Hijikata asked, taking the blood soaked rag from her hands. It wasn’t doing much good now anyway. Besides, her hands had stopped bleeding by now.

Olivia nodded, but it wasn’t long before Hijikata called her into Okita’s room. How could she face the Captain? He was probably pissed. No. More than pissed. Was he going to have her commit seppuku? Hijikata would never allow that to happen, but it wouldn’t stop the Captain from saying it.

“H-Hello, Captain Okita,” She mumbled as she walked into the room.

The Captain was sitting up in his hospital bed. Stitches everywhere. Bandages everywhere. Yet, when she had come in, there was an instant smile on his face. He… he wasn’t mad at her? No. No. He had to be planning something devious.

“Olivia-san! I’m glad to see you okay!” He beamed. But she didn’t say anything more. She stepped up to the front of the room with her head down. She was shaking. Okita tilted his head. Furrowing his brows. “Olivia-san? Are you alright?”

“Captain Okita!” She bowed low with such a flat back that you could balance an egg on it. “I’m so sorry!”

Okita sat there staring. He had no idea what was going on. “What for?”

Her bow didn’t break. “I… I had noticed that some of the faction members had guns. I didn’t want to provoke any of them early. So I… I-I tried to protect us both with a simple spell that I didn’t need my wings open to cast! I tried and-and I only protected myself! I’m sorry, Captain Okita! This is all my fault! I will take whatever punishment you see fit!”

“Olivia-san-,” Hijikata was about to go off, but Okita did his little hiccup and burst out laughing.

Olivia’s head popped up and she stared at him baffled. Her mouth gaped slightly. Brows furrowed.

“Olivia-san, stand up,” Okita commanded and she did. “There’s no need for you to apologize.”

“But-.”

“Olivia-san,” Okita interrupted again. “The only thing you did wrong was not obey my command telling you to run. However, if it wasn’t for you, I would probably be dead or worse, at the mercy of an anti-foreigner faction. Fighting away those members screaming ‘stay away from my Captain’… It was kind of nice hearing that.”

“Captain….” She could feel her face heating up.

“Sougo. Call me Sougo, Olivia-san.”

“… A-are you sure?” This was getting weird again.

Sougo nodded. “Come. Let me see your hands.”

“My… my hands?” She brought them up to examine them herself. All there was were two big gashes and dry blood. What did he need to see? She walked up to the side of his bed and showed him her hands. He took one in each of his own, rubbed off some of the dried blood, and examined the wounds closely.

“You’re lucky you didn’t have your hands completely sliced in half,” He said. “If he didn’t tilt the sword, well, you would be right in a bed here too.” He let go of her hands but grasped her forearms firmly, becoming more like the serious Okita that she knew well. “You know Olivia-san, you’re too harsh on yourself. It’s good that you are aware of your weaknesses and that you strive to perfect yourself. But if you push yourself too much, you’re going to go down a path towards destruction and you’re going to end up killing yourself.”

Okita sighed and loosened his grip. She was in shock and you could tell by her face. Kondo and Hijikata on the other hand, nodded in agreement with Sougo’s words.

Okita continued. “You remind me of my sister, Olivia-san. Always worrying about others before yourself. Always…. You’re going to end up really sick if you keep this up.” He brought her into a tight hug making her freeze up. “The Shinsengumi are a team. You do not have to push yourself to the brink of death. Do you understand?”

“Okay! Okay! Okay!” Olivia shook Sougo off her and whipped around. One hand on her hip. The other rubbing the back of her neck. “Geez Captain, you’re going to make me cry with that lecture.”

“Sougo.”

“Yeah, yeah! Sougo. Sougo,” Olivia snorted and waved her hand at him. “You’ve been weirding me out all day. Get your head examined while you’re here, okay?”

“I’ll tell the doctor to have him checked out,” Hijikata said.

“Fall off a bridge, Hijikata,” Sougo replied to that.

She abruptly turned her head towards the door. There was much ruckus coming from the halls and it was getting louder with each second. Was it the rest of the faction members that were avenging their other members that had been killed or arrested? No… This was-.

“Olivia-san!”

Through the door, Gintoki, Kagura, and Shinpachi came and pounced on Olivia. She fell to the ground and accepted her fate as practically being a body pillow for them to snuggle up to.

“Olivia-san!” Kagura cried. “We saw what happened on the news! Everything! We were so worried!”

“Worried?” Olivia asked, arching a brow. “If you saw everything on the news, why were you worried?”

“It was really brave of you how you defend Okita-san like that!” Shinpachi said.

“Oi. Why are you ignoring my question?”

“Okay, okay,” Hijikata clapped his hands and kicked at Gintoki’s foot. “Get off of her.”

“Geez, your boyfriend is so protective of you, Olivia-san,” Gintoki snorted. “He can’t let us touch you for a second!”

“She just saved Sougo from faction members! Get off her!” Hijikata fumed.

“Toshi, Toshi! Let them love Olivia-san their own way!” Kondo wheezed, motioning for him to sit back down.

“No, no. We’ll get up, but-.” Gintoki pushed the other two off, but as he got up, he hoisted Olivia over his shoulder. She yelped and froze up, not knowing exactly what to do in this case. “We’re taking her with us.”

“W-wait! Hold on!” Olivia started trying to wiggle out of Gintoki’s grip, but his hold was tight and firm. “I’m still technically on duty! I can’t!”

“We’re taking you out to eat!” Shinpachi said. “You always take us out to eat so, we wanted to treat you instead! Since, uh well, we got a high reward recently for a small job so….”

“Go ahead, Olivia-san,” Kondo said. “Take some time off from your work for the good job you did today.”

“But-.”

“Remember what Sougo said, Olivia-san?” Kondo asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Don’t push yourself on to the path of destruction,” Okita repeated himself and waved. “Have fun, Olivia-san!”

“We’ll make sure to bring her home early,” Gintoki smirked at Hijikata. “So that you can have her for dessert before bed.”

Olivia and Hijikata’s face ran red with embarrassment. Kondo and Okita chuckled to themselves. Shinpachi just stared at him in disbelief and Kagura had no idea what he was talking about.

“Why does she need to have dessert with V hair?” Kagura asked.

“Not that kind of dessert, Kagura.”

Shinpachi grabbed Gintoki’s arm and squeezed. “Why are you saying that to her?! Why are you trying to explain it?! Why did you even have to make that comment?!

“Just go. Go.” Hijikata waved his hand at them. “Have fun. Just… go.”

“Off to Korean BBQ then!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Uh, I haven't actually made any notes on any of my chapters in this story which is odd for me but ANYWAY, I was wondering if you guys could give me some feedback. I feel as though my chapters are... boring maybe? or are going to fast? I'm not sure but I have no idea how to fix it. If you guys could give me some feedback, that would be great! ^-^


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhhh yeah I am so sorry about being gone for so long. I've been obsessed with Dragon Ball so I kind of didn't have the motivation for this story. I mean I have some chapters drafted, but I didn't have the motivation for editing but I am back! Sorry again!

“Hello Hijikata-san! Olivia-san!” Shinpachi greeted as they entered the living room. “I’m assuming you’re here for the information about the three ‘Akemis’?”

Olivia nodded and sat down on the couch across from Kagura and Shinpachi with Hijikata joining her. “Yes. I haven’t seen or even been contacted by them since the first time I met them. I thought about letting the matter go, but I figured it would be logical to see what’s going on with them.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t bring sadist with you,” Kagura said, picking her nose.

“Sougo is working,” Hijikata explained. “We’re the only two who have the day off.”

“Aw, how nice! Kondo-san lets you take the same days off!” Shinpachi beamed.

“If only _we_ had days off,” Kagura sighed.

Shinpachi’s face went grim as he stared at the girl. “We barely have enough work to do around here, Kagura-chan,” He said. “It’s like we always have days off.”

“Oi, oi! I try to get as much work as I can for us!” Gintoki had finally appeared… from the bathroom. Of course that’s where he was. He spends at least two hours a day taking a shit. “It’s not my fault that we only had three jobs this month!”

“Maybe you should get an actual job then?” Hijikata snorted.

“Oh, doing what? Taking tax payer money and blowing it on stupid things?” Kagura snorted back, flicking her booger at Hijikata, making him freak out.

“Enough!” Olivia growled with an added sigh, rubbing her temples with two fingers. “Gin-san, what did you guys find out?”

Gintoki plopped himself in his chair, resting his feet on the desk. “Well, for starters, they are not of the Akemi tribe, as you are probably well aware.”

“But only one of them is a Yato,” Kagura said. “The one named Butch. The others are only humans- tools for him to use.”

“We staked out their estate for a couple of days,” Shinpachi continued. “There’s not just three of them. There has to be at least a hundred or so. Maybe even more.”

“Did you find out what they’re doing? What are they planning?” Hijikata asked.

Gintoki shrugged. “Beats me. It’s not anything good though if you have a Yato pretending to be one of your people.”

“Sorry we couldn’t get much else, Olivia-san,” Shinpachi bowed his head.

Olivia smiled and shook her head. “No need to apologize. You did your best and I couldn’t thank you enough.” She pulled out a small envelope and placed it on the table. “Here’s the other half that I owe you.”

“You’re going to pay him all of that just for that small amount of information?” Hijikata asked with a sneer on his lips. “He’s just milking you of your money.”

“Hijikata-san, Hijikata-san.” Gintoki waved his hand at him with a glimmer in his eyes. “If I was milking Olivia-san, you would _definitely_ know it.”

“Would you stop with the sexual innuendos?!” Hijikata shouted. Promptly standing up from the couch, he got his sandals and scarf on while mumbling curses under his breath at Gintoki. “Come on, Olivia-san. We have things to do.”

“Where are you going today?” Shinpahi asked. “Somewhere romantic?”

Olivia laughed with a shake of her head. “No, no. It’s been getting colder outside and I don’t have any warm clothes for such a winter as the one on earth. We didn’t have cold seasons back on my home planet so there wasn’t much need for them obviously.”

“Make sure to get lots of warm pajamas, sis!” Kagura said. “It gets really cold during the winter nights! Even with the heat on!”

Olivia slapped her hand across Gintoki’s mouth once she saw his little, cheeky ass grin. She dropped to eye level with a dead serious expression. “Don’t say another damn word or else I will gladly have Hijikata kick your ass. Got it?”

“Are you coming, Olivia?”

“On my way out!” Olivia flicked Gintoki’s nose and sped out the door.

“I don’t know how you can deal with those guys,” Hijikata sighed, lighting up a cigarette. “Shinpachi-kun seems to be the only level-headed one.”

“They make me happy. That’s how I deal with them,” Olivia replied, taking Hijikata’s hand in hers. “Of course, you make me happy as well, Hijikata-san.”

Toshi smirked. His eyes seemed to gloss over with happiness. Just for a second though, and then it was over. What was it with this man? She thought she had him all figured out, but there was something wrong. Who had hurt him so much that his heart was restrained?

“Oi.” Her thoughts wandered back into reality at the sound of Hijikata’s voice. “This shop has some good winter clothing. How about we go in?”

Olivia nodded and they both proceeded through the doors of the shop. It was a small, and quiet shop, but it was warm and smelled of fresh cookies. Though, it was probably just the candles that she was smelling. However, it was perfect for the weather that they were having. It made her want to cuddle up into the coats that were hanging on the rakes and take a nap. Hijikata broke the bond between their hands and started looking through the coats. Olivia hummed and worked her way around the store to get a sense of what they had to offer, then would decide which section to go to from there.

“Find anything?” Hijikata asked, coming up from behind her.

Olivia shook her head. “Not yet. I’m still just browsing and then I’ll really start searching.”

“Well, how about this scarf?” He tossed it around her neck a couple of times and tied it with a very loose knot in the front. “It matches your eyes... Well, when your eyes are that ice blue color anyway.”

Olivia took the end fabric of the chilly blue scarf and squeezed it in her hands. “It’s so soft.” She turned around to kiss him on the cheek, but he had disappeared into another clothing rack. She frowned slightly, but then continued her search for a coat. She would buy the scarf that Hijikata had picked out.

“Good afternoon! Did you find everything that you wanted?” The shopkeep said as Olivia walked up to the counter with Hijikata following close behind.

Olivia nodded with a smile. “Yes, yes! Everything I need for a cold winter season!”

“My! You’re awfully chipper for someone who walked in from the cold in nothing but some pants and an airy shirt!” The shopkeep cut off the scarf’s price tag and handed it back to Olivia for her to wear out. “Well, I guess all the young couples are excited for the holiday season!”

Olivia put the scarf back around her neck and hummed in thought. “Ah, yes. This is the time of year that people of this planet celebrate the holiday known as Christmas, correct?”

“Oh! I didn’t realize you were an amanto! Sorry for assuming that you were a human!”

Olivia blinked a bit surprised at the shopkeep’s reaction. “W-what? N-no. It’s fine. Really.”

The shopkeep mumbled something under her breath with a sour face then relaxed and sighed. “Well, it’s the time for Christmas which can also be the time for young couples in love.”

Olivia could hear Hijikata choke from behind her, but she stood there with her head tilted, trying to understand what the woman meant. “I don’t understand what you mean, unfortunately.”

“Well, around the time of Christmas, sometimes young couples in love get… engaged!”

Olivia’s face turned red. “I-I… w-what?”

“We’ve only been dating for a couple of months,” Hijikata came to the rescue. “It’s still a, uh… new thing.”

“So?” The shopkeep motioned to the picture behind her. It was of her and supposedly her husband. “My husband and I had only dated for a few months before we got married.”

Now _he_ needed to be rescued.

Olivia glanced at Hijikata. He looked completely calm except for the little beads of sweat on the side of his face. He was feeling the pressure of trying not to yell at this sweet lady. Olivia tilted her head down with a… _sort of_ fake disappointed smile.

“Unfortunately, we are both very committed to our jobs. We have no time to think about such things.” Olivia paid for her stuff and bowed slightly. “Thank you. Have a good day.”

Once out of the store, Hijikata took hold of her hand again and squeezed. “Thanks.”

“It was no problem,” Olivia muttered. “Is there anything else we should do while we’re here or should we-.” There was a shake in her energy field that had made her choke on her words.

“Olivia-san?” Hijikata shook her hand gently. “Is there something wrong?”

“I… I know this feeling… this energy.” She let go of his hand and walked to the middle of the street. It was a peaceful energy that was native to her planet. An energy of the purest form that could only be given off by these gems. They had been sold at high rates and the planet had made a lot of money off of them. Once the planet was attacked though, the planet was deemed off limits to go to. No more of those precious gems could be sold.

Out of the corner of her eye, Olivia saw what she had been looking for. She casually strolled up to the display in the window and glared down at the necklace. The necklace was made from pure silver. At the very bottom of the necklace, was a medium sized gem. It looked like a plain, old tanzanite gemstone. But, if the light hit it just right, it gleamed an ice blue color. Just like an Akemi’s eyes.

“What is it?” Hijikata asked, coming up from behind. He set his sights on the gem that had Olivia entranced and grimaced. “Oh… Figures. Jewelry.”

“It’s not just any jewelry,” She whispered. “That is-.”

“Ah, I see you’ve set your sights on the gem, Fuyu Asa.”

They both looked up to see the jeweler leaning against the doorway with sorrow on his face.

“I didn’t realize that people were still able to get it with the planet of Akemi being of limits to everyone.”

Fuyu Asa. Winter morning. The gem had been named after the blue eyes of the Akemi. Everyone from all over the universe came to the planet to have jewelry made of the gem. It was a very hard gem so people could make anything they wanted of it. Even blades if people paid the price for it. The royal scythe that had been in the royal family for thousands upon thousands of years has a handle made of this particular gem. It emitted energy of the purest form and Akemis were attracted to it like cats were to catnip.

The jeweler shook his head. “We’re not able to get any of it anymore because of all the destruction on that planet. I’m selling the last one that I’ve seen.” The jeweler continued to shake his head as he stepped back into his shop. “Shame too. Everyone loved those gems. They’re so beautiful like the eyes that they were named after.”

“Do you want it?” Hijikata asked.

Olivia shook her head and started to walk away from the display. “No. I’m trying to move forward. If I hold on to a piece of the past, I’ll never move forward.”

Hijikata stared at her, then back at the necklace. Did she really not want it? It caught her attention so quick. Reeling her in like an already dead fish. How could she not want it? Hijikata made his usual disgusted face. Did she think she didn’t deserve such an item? Did she think that not buying this item would help her atone for the past?

“Hijikata-san?”

He looked up to see Olivia waiting for him with her foot tapping.

“Yeah, Yeah! I’m coming!”

He looked back at the gem for a moment then left to join his beloved.


End file.
